The Road to Champion
by The Mass Effect Gamer
Summary: The road to champion is a long and harsh journey for those who seek it, but it is rewarding for the few who make it to the top. Follow the story of Ethan Rider, prodigy of New Bark Town, as he journeys through the Johto region to become the best there is with his faithful Abra by his side. Mainly follows the storyline of the games.
1. The Pokemon Master

**The Pokemon Master**

…

**A/N: Hi, guys. I know I****'****m mostly known for writing in the Mass Effect universe, but I****'****ve always been interested in writing my own Pokemon story, even before I began to write The Homefront. It****'****s not going to be typical, and it won****'****t be as formulaic as the thousands of other Pokemon fanfics out there. I was personally inspired to write this story after reading the Traveler by The Straight Elf, who is a magnificent writer and will always be the best Pokemon story writer in my opinion. So I hope that you all enjoy this story and join me along in the ride. Thanks, and begin reading!**

…

"Feraligatr, use aqua tail!"

"Dodge it, Raichu!" The thin-furred yellow mouse deftly leapt to the side as the monstrous feraligatr smashed its thick tail on the ground where Raichu had only been an instant before. Thrown by the impact, Raichu was flipped over but quickly regained its balance as it bounced and landed on its long, prehensile tail. The feraligatr barely had time to look up before it was blasted by an overpowered thunderbolt, showering it with sparks and driving the creature back as it roared in pain.

The Red trainer saw his opening. "Raichu, hit him with Thunder! Give it everything you've got!"

The electric mouse quickly curled in on itself as its body became charged with tens of thousands of volts, so much that sparks were leaking from its fur and erratically spraying the ground around it. The feraligatr righted itself and turned hateful eyes onto its opponent.

The Green trainer didn't have many options left. "Feraligatr, use hyper beam!"

The eight-foot beast of a feraligatr roared once in confirmation as it opened its massive jaws. A second later, an incredibly small but dense sphere of energy formed in its maw. The ball, glowing with the power of a miniature sun, soon grew to the size of Feraligatr's head as the beast prepared its dangerous attack.

Too late. Raichu released its trump move and fired a ridiculously powerful bolt of lightning at the feraligatr. The entire arena flashed white, and a roll of thunder boomed across the stadium. The camera was blinded by the light, and no one could hear anything for several seconds. When the camera finally refocused, the battle was over.

Raichu was pushing itself up from the ground, using its tail to support its tired body. The electric mouse looked exhausted, but fire blazed in its eyes as it raised itself to face the feraligatr if it rose again. On the other side of the field, the smoke cleared to reveal the feraligatr. Only, the massive pokemon was lying on the ground, unmoving. Scorch marks ran as far away from its body as ten feet, and the beast's hide was blackened from the Thunder. Its chest heaved slightly as it took in deep breaths, but it was obvious it wasn't getting back up anytime soon.

"Feraligatr is unable to battle! Victory goes to the Red trainer!"

The crowd roared.

"No!"

Ethan pounded his fist against the frame of his bed. The twelve-year old turned the TV off as he flopped onto his bed in frustration. He had been cheering on Alex, the Green trainer, since his start in the Indigo Conference.

The Indigo Conference. It had been his dream to win the Conference ever since Ethan had turned eleven last spring. Oh, he had always wanted to be the best pokemon trainer there ever was, but the Conference was a tangible goal for him as a trainer. Now that he was finally twelve, it could be reality.

Today was the day he started his journey.

Downstairs, Ethan was scarfing down his breakfast so fast he started coughing as his body couldn't handle the intake. His mom stared at him bemusedly from the other room. "Ethan! Calm down! You can't go to Professor Elm's lab if you're at the hospital getting your stomach pumped."

Ethan jumped up from the table and grabbed his traveling backpack. He and his mother had gotten it the other day in preparation for his journey. Like most trainer backpacks, it was light, elastic, and contained multiple compartments for all that he would have to bring with him on his journey. "Today's the day I become a pokemon trainer, mom! I can't waste a second or all the pokemon will be gone!"

"I hardly think Professor Elm will forget to carry enough pokemon for all of the young men and women starting their journeys today," said his mother as she hugged him. Her expression was a mix of love and worry. "Please be safe on your journey okay? Oh, I'm going to miss you so much, Ethan. What am I going to do without you? Just…be safe, Ethan."

"I know, mom," said Ethan, hugging his mother back before releasing her. Then he was at the door. "Love you, mom!"

"Write home and visit sometime!"

His feet carried him quickly across New Bark Town. It wasn't like he had far to walk; his hometown was relatively small compared to most cities in the Johto region. And it didn't take him long at all to locate the building; Professor Elm's lab was easily the largest building in town and as such it was located close to the center. By the time he got there, though, there was already a small group of people at the door. One of them heard his arrival and turned around.

"Ethan!" said Lyra, smiling brightly as ever. "I would have thought you'd have been the first person here."

"I was just catching Alex's Conference match," replied Ethan, skidding to a stop in front of the lab. "And he lost! I can't believe it. I never thought his feraligatr would lose a battle."

Lyra rolled her eyes. "It's hard to beat an electric type with a water type. He's good, but he's not that good."

"Alex is one of the best—

The door to the lab opened, and a somewhat short, brown-haired man in a lab coat stepped outside. Professor Elm pushed up his glasses and his eyebrows rose as he looked at all of expectant trainers. "What? What are all of you doing out here? Did I schedule a field trip today?"

"No, Professor," said Lyra patiently. Everyone knew the good Professor, famous and intelligent as he was, was absent-minded at times and tended to forget about things outside his research. "Today's the day everyone starts their pokemon journeys, remember?"

Professor Elm's eyes widened. "Oh! Um…I…forgot."

Ethan's mouth dropped open slightly. "Professor Elm! You forgot about one of the most important…well, one of the only events of the year in the town?"

"I had almost achieved a breakthrough in pokemon egg research last week," said the Professor protested. "I was up all night for the past three days running tests in the lab. It could change the way pokemon breeders raise pokemon and our understanding of the process as we know it! Come to think of it, I think I was in the middle of a test…"

The professor started mumbling, and Ethan waved an arm. "Professor? You're rambling again."

Elm looked up with a start. "Oh, sorry. Here, you kids come inside. I'll, uh, see what I have."

The young trainers followed the professor inside. Ethan looked around the large, dome shaped building in awe. They passed by several harried assistants who seemed to be working around a cluster of incubators on their right. One assistant was chasing a baby Pidgey which had somehow gotten loose. Bookcases lined the other side of the main lab area, each filled with reams of books about pokemon breeding and evolutionary theory. One of the assistants carried a small chest and quickly made his way over to Professor Elm, who accepted the box with a quick thanks and turned towards the trainers.

"There we are!" said the professor brightly. He opened the box and frowned. "Oh, um. There isn't as many pokemon as I thought there would be. Harris, where are the other starter pokemon?"

The assistant shrugged helplessly. "Sorry, professor. We forgot to fill out that part of the requisition form last week. These are all the ones we had on hand."

The professor's expression grew worried. "Oh, that's a problem."

Elm turned towards the rookie trainers, who had been attentively watching the scene the entire time. "Um, I definitely have enough pokemon for all of you. It just might take a bit longer than usual for some of you. Um…form a line?"

Ethan sighed as the trainers scrambled to form a recognizable line in front of the professor. Unlike most trainers who had started their journeys when they turned ten or eleven, he had started his journey at twelve because his mother thought he wasn't ready yet. If he had waited a year to start his journey, then he could afford to wait a few more minutes. So he made his way to the back of the line.

Lyra was just ahead of him. "Looks like we got the short end," his oldest friend said, shrugging. "It's okay, though. The professor said everyone would get pokemon!"

After a minute, the lab began to clear out and soon Lyra and Ethan were the only ones left. Lyra excitedly dug her hand in the box and pulled a pokeball out, frowning. "Oh, Professor Elm. This is the last one."

"Ah, yes," said the professor sheepishly. "Don't worry, Ethan. I'm having my assistant run into the back to pick up a pokemon from the lab. He'll be here any minute."

Ethan sighed. "It's okay, Professor. Hey Lyra, let's see what you got."

The girl brightened and released her pokemon. A flash of light appeared on the floor, and soon the light coalesced into the small form of a pokemon. The pokemon was small, as most people would expect a new, untrained pokemon to be, and was pale green, save for the dark, emerald green color of the big leaf attached to its head. The Chikorita looked up at Lyra expectantly with wide, red eyes.

"Hi there!" said Lyra, crouching down to more or less eye level with her pokemon. "We're going to be great friends." The grass type backed away slightly, but still kept its curious look. She slowly reached out with her hand and stroked the chikorita's back, who soon pushed back against her hand contentedly.

"I guess I have to think of name for you," said Lyra, looking up thoughtfully. "Hmmm…how about Emerald?"

The Chikorita squeaked and did a short little hop. Lyra giggled and stood back up again. "Emerald it is! We're going to be best friends."

Ethan watched the scene with a mingling sense of amusement and jealousy. He quickly banished the negative feeling away; he would have a pokemon soon. He secretly hoped it would be a Totodile, but he knew that the Professor wouldn't have any more conventional starter pokemon on hand.

"Thank you, Harris," said Professor Elm as he took a pokeball from his assistant. He handed it to Ethan, whose hands were eagerly stretched out. The professor placed the pokeball in Ethan's hands.

"Let's see what you got, Ethan," said Lyra, looking curiously at the pokeball.

Excitement raced through Ethan's mind and body as he held out the pokeball in front of him. His fingers pressed the release button, and a bright flash of light illuminated the room. Ethan stared through the light, unwilling to be hindered by the light to see his first pokemon.

The red energy that had shot out from the pokeball coalesced into a small yellow creature, which was in a sitting position on the ground. Ethan looked at the pokemon curiously. Its eyes were closed, and its head was held at an angle as if it were asleep.

"It's an Abra," said Elm proudly. "It's a result from the breeding program I have here."

Chikorita approached the Abra cautiously, reaching out with a hesitant vine. The vine prodded the abra in the side, and the vine was suddenly alight with glowing blue energy. Chikorita squeaked and quickly retracted its vine as it ducked behind Lyra's legs. Abra still hadn't moved.

"Here, Ethan and Lyra," said Elm as he handed the two rookies each a small silver square of plastic. He quickly began to explain the functions of the pokedex to them, though Ethan was barely listening. His mouth was slightly open in shock as he held the Pokedex in his hand. He had always dreamt of the day he would became a trainer and leave his mark on the world, but this was confirmation, if his pokemon weren't already. This was the mark of his first step as a trainer. This was the beginning of everything.

"The Pokedex contains your Trainer ID as well as an encyclopedia of all known Pokemon," continued Professor Elm. "It is an essential tool of any Pokemon trainer. It functions as your identification, so you'll need it when registering for competitions and tournaments."

Lyra tapped Ethan on the shoulder. "Ethan, are you even paying attention?" she scolded. "This is important information!"

"So is this," said Ethan, and he quickly aimed the pokedex at the Abra. A thin red light shot out of the top of the pokedex and fell onto the psi pokemon, where it then widened and fanned out.

"_Abra, the psi pokemon_," uttered the pokedex, as it quickly scanned Abra's sleeping form."_Female. It sleeps for 18 hours a day. It uses a variety of extrasensory powers even while asleep_. _This abra knows teleport, confusion, and barrier. Its ability is Magic Guard, which prevents indirect damage from weather conditions, poison, burns, certain ghost type attacks, and other environmental effects._"

"Cool!" said Ethan as he looked at his pokemon expectantly. Abra evolved into Alakazam, an immensely powerful psychic type. Although he knew that his Abra wouldn't start slinging psychic attacks everywhere at the moment, with training his Abra would be hard to beat. "Why does it know so many moves though? I thought most Abra could only use Teleport."

"As I said before, this Abra here is a part of our breeding program at the lab," said Elm proudly. "Baby pokemon are able to retain some knowledge of abilities from their parents. Otherwise, I doubt it would have been able to learn Barrier."

Ethan crouched down next to his Abra, who was still asleep. "Hey Abra, I don't want to wake you up from your nap, but I think it would be great if you had a nickname. Do you want a nickname?"

Abra didn't move. Ethan shrugged and started to think of some names. It wasn't easy, especially because he wasn't expecting to get an Abra this morning. "Hmmm…Aura? Because of that blue aura around…no, that won't work. Oracle? Psy? Zen? Espy?"

Ethan froze as a light blue energy suffused the air around the Abra. It eyes suddenly glowed blue through its thin eyelids and Ethan felt _something_ touch his mind. It wasn't like he was reading words in his mind or hearing anyone's voice, but Ethan felt a general pulse of acknowledgment coming from the Abra. The young trainer stood up excitedly.

"She likes it!" said Ethan. "Wait, I think she just spoke to me in my head. Sort of."

"Abra are able to read minds and communicate using telepathy," said Lyra before the professor could respond. "Your Abra is barely grown, so I don't think she's able to talk to you yet, but she probably could in the future."

"It's great to see you all getting along with your pokemon," said Elm, looking at the two of them. Ethan and Lyra turned back to the professor, the initial excitement from getting pokemon fading away. "It's a bond you'll keep with you throughout your trainer career. The journey to becoming a strong trainer is a hard one, but one well worth traveling. You'll need that bond with your pokemon."

Ethan nodded, listening intently to Elm. The professor was a bit absent-minded at times and easily distracted, but there was a reason Professor Elm was a renowned scientist and a pioneer in the field of Pokemon breeding research.

"And you'll need these, too," said the Professor as he reached into his coat pockets and pulled out several small spheres. Ethan recognized them instantly.

"Pokeballs!" said Lyra, taking a couple from the Professor's outstretched hand while Ethan took the rest.

"Thank you Professor!" said Lyra.

Elm smiled. "The pleasure is mine, Lyra. I always love watching new trainers venture out into the world on their journeys. But never mind that now; I have research to do, and you have a world to explore! Go on! The world is waiting."

"Thank you, Professor!" said Ethan and Lyra. Lyra began to move toward the door with her Chikorita, but Ethan looked quizzically at Espy, who was still asleep on the floor. "Uh, Espy? I guess you could ride on my shoulders…?"

Blue energy surrounded the abra again. Then the pokemon promptly disappeared, popping out of existence. Ethan staggered as an unexpected weight landed on his shoulders. He quickly righted himself and patted Espy on the shoulder, her body warm to the touch. "This is so cool."

The pair exited the building. "This is awesome!" said Lyra, pumping her fist in the air. "We have our own pokemon. We're finally trainers!"

"Not yet," said Ethan, a smile creeping onto his face. He turned to face Lyra and her Chikorita. "I challenge you to a battle!"

Lyra met Ethan's grin with one of her own. "You're on. Emerald, let's go!"

The chikorita dashed in front of Lyra and readied itself for a battle. Ethan looked up at his abra expectantly. "Let's win this, Espy! First battle."

The abra teleported, leaving Ethan with a weird sucking sensation at the back of his head as Espy appeared on the ground in front of him. Abra's eyes glowed bright blue through its eyelids as Chikorita warily approached the psychic pokemon, having learned its lesson before.

"Emerald, use Tackle!" Lyra shouted, her voice carrying across the small space. Chikorita barked shortly before charging at Abra, its short, stubby legs carrying it slowly but steadily across the ground. Abra didn't move.

"Dodge it, Espy!" The Abra flitted out of existence just as Chikorita leapt at the psychic. The grass type met no resistance and crashed to the ground, winded. Abra appeared in front of Lyra this time and cocked its head in Chikorita's direction, the first movement Ethan had seen it make. Espy glowed bright blue just as an aura of the same color enveloped Emerald, who squealed as it was lifted into the air. Then she threw the Chikorita. The grass type landed and continued rolling across the ground until it hit the side of the professor's gym with a _thud_.

"No, Emerald!" The Chikorita dizzily stood on its feet for a few seconds before collapsing onto the ground. Apparently, being levitated into the air and thrown against a building had been too much for the small creature.

Abra teleported onto Ethan's shoulders again, and he clapped the psychic type on the back. "Espy, that was great!"

Lyra was patting her Chikorita on the back. "Emerald, are you okay?" The grass type shook itself for a second before righting itself again, barking affirmatively. Lyra laughed and hugged her grass type, who squealed in return.

"Do you have everything you need?" said Ethan to Lyra.

"I've got my camping gear, clothes, money, my phone, food, pokemon food, and some potions," said Lyra as he counted them off on her fingers. "I'm good to go."

"Then let's head—

"Wait!"

Ethan repressed the urge to groan as Professor Elm came running from the lab, skidding to a halt in front of the duo. He was panting harshly, and he held his knees as he struggled for breath. "…wait," said the renown Pokemon Professor of the Johto Region. "I have an errand for you two."

The Professor straightened and exhaled. "I just received an email from a friend who has recently made an important discovery. He lives not too far from Cherrygrove City; he actually lives on the route to Violet City so it shouldn't be too out of your way. I've already sent the address to you both. As I'm very busy here at the lab with my research, I can't spare the time to make the trip there. Could you two visit my friend and see what he's up to this time?"

Ethan and Lyra both looked at each other. "No problem, professor," said Lyra, smiling brightly. "You can count on us."

Ethan really didn't want to have to run the errand and run straight back home again, but he bit his tongue as the Professor sighed with relief. "Thank you, Lyra. I'm glad you two were here to help. Best of luck on your journey, Ethan, Lyra. A word of advice: the best results lie on the most difficult paths. Your journey is what you make of it."

Ethan nodded solemnly. He would definitely take those words to heart. "Got it, Professor."

The Professor looked at his watch. "And I've wasted too much time already! Goodbye, you two! Again, good luck!" And in a flash Elm was gone.

"All right, now let's go," said Ethan, looking off towards the woods that held Route 29, which eventually led to Cherrygrove City. The nearest city wasn't that far away, and they could make it in a couple of hours if they left now. Plus, it was the morning.

As Ethan and Lyra reached the edge of New Bark Town, Ethan noticed a flash of movement near the lab. He curiously craned his head past Lyra, who had continued walking, undaunted. In the alley next to the lab, there appeared to be a person with red hair standing in front of the window. Ethan rubbed his eyes and squinted to see the person, but there was no one there. _Okay, I__'__m seeing things. Focus on the journey. World, here I come. _

Ethan took a deep breath. His pokemon journey had begun.

…

"_Pidgey, the Flying pokemon. Female. It rapidly flaps its wings in the grass, stirring up a dust cloud that drives insect prey out into the open. This pidgey knows peck, tackle, and sand-attack. Its ability is Keen Eye, which prevents loss of accuracy._"

"Hang back, Ethan," said Lyra, grinning as she took out her pokeball. "Pidgey's mine."

Ethan shrugged. The bird pokemon didn't particularly strike him as interesting. He knew from watching League battles and the Conference that Pidgeot, the final evolved form of Pidgey, were powerful fighters and forces to be reckoned with. Their speed was nearly unparalleled and they were masters of the sky, but the pokemon didn't really speak out to him. There wasn't a gut reaction in him that said, "This pokemon belongs on my team. This pokemon is perfect for the team."

Emerald had stalked forward on the ground towards the tree which the Pidgey was currently roosting on. The bird type either hadn't noticed them, which wasn't likely, or it was ignoring them. Either way, it was a mistake it wouldn't be able to correct.

"Emerald, tackle the tree! Bring it down." The Chikorita squealed as it charged forward and rammed the tree trunk with its body, shaking the thin tree. The pidgey chirped and fluttered off the branch, zeroing in on the Chikorita which had disturbed its roost. The pidgey cried out once, circling in the air and building up momentum before diving towards Chikorita, which held its ground in the face of the oncoming bird pokemon.

"Chikorita, use Razor Leaf!" Lyra commanded. Chikorita quickly whipped its head around in a short circle and flung three sharp leaves from its main leaf towards the pidgey. The first leaf was wildly aimed and the pidgey easily dodged it. The second and third leaves, however, stayed true to their target and cut into the pidgey's feathers, eliciting a loud pained chirp from the pidgey as it struggled to stay afloat as some feathers began to fall from its form.

"Good enough for me!" Lyra shouted as she reared back and threw the pokeball. The sphere sailed through the air and smacked the pidgey directly on the head. The pokeball automatically shot a beam of red light at the pidgey and opened. The pidgey turned bright white and was quickly sucked into the pokeball, which clattered on the ground moments later. The pokeball shook and the indicator flashed red. Lyra and her chikorita silently watched the ball stir on the ground, and Ethan couldn't help but feel a certain sense of anticipation and, to his surprise, yearning. The pokeball shook. The indicator blinked red. It shook again.

Then it stopped.

Lyra waited a few more seconds before jumping into the air. "Yes!" Lyra cried triumphantly as she picked up the pokeball. "I caught my first pokemon!"

Chikorita was hopping with Lyra. Ethan watched the pair with amusement from his place by the tree. Abra had teleported off his shoulders when Lyra stopped to battle the pidgey and was quietly resting by the tree next to him. Ethan looked towards Abra, whose eyes were still closed. "Don't worry, Abra," said Ethan. "We're going to find some pokemon to join the team. We'll make some good friends."

A general pulse of agreement ran through his head, and Ethan grinned again. He couldn't wait until his Abra could talk to him with telepathy. Though, according to Professor Elm, it wouldn't happen until his Abra was sufficiently powerful.

Light blue aura surrounded his cap, and the front end tipped downward of its own volition, causing Ethan to jump up and quickly grab at his cap, twisting it until it was back to its original position. He looked down at Espy, who was still silent and unmoving. He grinned and returned his attention to Lyra.

By this time, Lyra had likely already named the Pidgey and befriended it, evidenced by the fact that the Pidgey was now roosting on Lyra's shoulder as she walked towards Ethan and Espy, her Chikorita trailing next to her. "I named her Phoenix," she said proudly, stroking the bird's crest, which contained a few lines of red within the plumage.

"Nice," said Ethan. "Just wait until I catch my pokemon."

"If you ever catch one," said Lyra, sticking her tongue at him. "You're so picky."

Ethan shook his head and pushed off the tree. Abra seemed to notice him somehow and quickly teleported onto his shoulders. Ethan almost staggered again, but he was rapidly getting used to the presence of Espy near his head and didn't break stride as the pair continued down the route to Cherrygrove.

A few minutes later, it was Ethan's turn to shine. It wasn't a pokemon, though, that caught his attention. At least, that wasn't the only thing that caught his attention.

It was also the trainer that stood confidently behind his Rattata, looking at Ethan with friendly but determined eyes. Ethan looked up at Espy, who looked for all the world as if she was still asleep. "Espy? Looks like a battle."

Espy teleported onto the field. The psychic made no attempt at hiding its awareness this time and was lightly suffused with blue light as it faced the rattata, which growled at the abra.

"Rattata, use Tackle!" said the trainer, and his pokemon complied. The purple rat rushed at abra, much faster than Chikorita had been able to manage.

Ethan thought it might be time to test another one of Espy's abilities. "Espy, use Barrier!"

The aura around Espy intensified. A light blue wall of light appeared three feet in front of Espy, who calmly watched as Rattata leapt at her, only to ram its snout into the psychic barrier that Espy had erected.

"Use Confusion," said Ethan. Espy's eyes glowed bright blue as Rattata was suddenly lifted into the air, squealing as it lost control of its body. The rat pokemon was flung through the air and into an adjacent tree, which it slammed into with a _thud_. The rattata slid to the ground and collapsed.

"Great job, Espy!" Ethan shouted as he picked up the abra. "You're the best."

The trainer looked crestfallen but walked over to Ethan after he had returned his pokemon. "Here you go."

Ethan accepted the trainer's winnings and slid the money into his wallet. After the trainer had left, he glanced back at Lyra, who had been watching the battle from the side with her pokemon still out. "I may not have gotten another Pokemon, but I did just win another battle," he teased.

"We'll see about that when we get to the next trainer," Lyra reassured him, smirking. "I've got to let you win sometimes."

Ethan grinned.

It was midday when they reached Cherrygrove City. "I don't know about you or Espy, Ethan, but Emerald could use a quick rest," commented Lyra as she looked down at the chikorita. The grass type was worn and scuffed, the result of having battled a few battles with other starter pokemon and one particularly stubborn hoothoot. Ethan looked up at Espy. The abra had mostly slept between battles, and when she did emerge from her slumber she normally swept the competition with her burgeoning psychic powers. Most young pokemon didn't have the ability to effectively fight psychic pokemon, and Ethan almost felt guilty for having a pokemon with a big advantage if his abra wasn't so _cool_.

"You can go to the Pokemon Center if you want," said Ethan, putting his hands into his pockets. "I'm going to the store to grab a few more supplies."

Lyra rolled her eyes. "You didn't pack everything, did you?"

"I packed enough," Ethan responded defensively. "I just need a couple of potions and a maybe a few more things."

"Right," Lyra laughed as she turned to head to the Pokemon Center. Ethan shook his head and made his way towards the Poke Mart, which was the second largest building in town save for the Pokemon Center. Most stores in cities today carried supplies for traveling trainers, but the Poke Mart was a store specifically catered towards providing gear and supplies for Pokemon trainers. They had the best deals, and generally the best equipment. They were also relatively low priced, perfect for a trainer on the go.

Ethan paid the cashier as he quickly stuffed the potions into his backpack. Alongside the basic potions, he also had bought a few antidotes and paralyze heals, knowing that bug type pokemon were common in this area and often used their natural toxins to help them in battle. It wouldn't pay to not be prepared for them.

Ethan sat down on a bench in front of the Pokemon Center. Espy was sitting next to him and was breathing slowly, clearly asleep. Although he knew that Abra needed several hours of sleep per day and were sedentary to an extreme degree, he still couldn't suppress a feeling of exasperation at the abra. _It__'__s like the only time she does anything is during a battle. _

His cap jerked down again and covered his eyes, and Ethan laughed as he yanked the cap back up to its previous position. He looked at Espy, who _looked_ asleep but now had a faint aura of blue outlining her body. Ethan shook his head and leaned back in the bench, looking out at the vast blue sky. It was oddly peaceful, and he exhaled deeply. _I__'__m a pokemon trainer. An actual pokemon trainer__…_

Ethan was half asleep when Lyra exited the Pokemon Center. She looked down at him and lightly kicked his legs, which was enough to jolt the young trainer awake and have him jump to his feet. "Ethan," said Lyra, giggling. "I wasn't in there that long."

"Yeah right," said Ethan as he stretched his limbs. Espy teleported onto his shoulders again, and this time he barely noticed as he shrugged his backpack on. "Come on, let's go. I want to make it to Violet City by tonight."

"Remember that we need to stop by Professor Elm's friend's house before we get there," Lyra warned him.

Ethan waved her away. "I know, I know. Let's get moving."

They walked for a mile or two before running into the first trainer. He was short and wore a small blue cap, which was currently turned around on his head so that the bill faced out backwards. As soon as he had seen them, the young boy had quickly ran over to the duo and stopped directly in their path.

"I challenge you to a battle," announced the boy, huffing. "One on one."

Ethan glanced at Lyra, who looked back at him. "I'll take this one," said Ethan, stepping forward. The boy cried out and immediately released a mean-looking raticate that was nearly half the boy's height. Ethan blinked in surprise; he wasn't expecting to face an evolved pokemon before even his first gym battle. _Shouldn__'__t be too tough_, he reasoned. It would certainly take a great deal more effort to bring down a raticate compared to its pre evolved form.

Espy teleported onto the short grass. Her eyes flared bright blue as she slightly turned her head towards the raticate, the first movement she had made the entire day.

"Raticate, use tackle!" The big rate growled and lunged forward, easily crossing the distance between the two pokemon in one leap. "Dodge it, Espy," said Ethan, and the abra complied, blinking out of existence in a flash of bright light. The raticate skidded onto the ground where Espy had just been and shook its head to clear its blinded eyes. Ethan rubbed his own eyes and when he finally opened them again, the raticate was already lifted into the air, though at a lower height than Espy typically levitated her opponents to. It was probably the heaviest thing she had lifted with Confusion.

The raticate slammed into the ground. The big rat growled as it got to its feet and glared at Espy, who had reappeared in front of the other trainer on the opposite side of the field.

The young trainer looked down at Espy in annoyance. "Use pursuit and quick attack, raticate! Don't let the abra escape this time!"

Ethan's eyes widened at the sound of the combo. Pursuit and quick attack? Pursuit was a dark type move that cloaked its user in a light form of the dark energy that most psychics couldn't detect, essentially removing the user from a psychic's "vision." A pokemon activating a dark move would appear to have disappeared in the eyes of a psychic. Quick attack tapped into the hidden latent energy in a pokemon that allowed the pokemon to move exponentially faster than it normally would. The two together meant that Espy wouldn't be able to sense her opponent and react in time.

So Ethan did the only thing he could do. "Espy, use Barrier!"

The raticate, slightly shrouded in dark energy, blurred forward and leapt at the abra. A sphere of light surrounded Espy as she poured energy into the barrier. Raticate slammed into the barrier at high speed and bounced off, though Ethan could see cracks in the wall of energy where the raticate had impacted. The rat pokemon stumbled back, dazed and confused, and its dark energy wore off. Ethan saw his opening. "Espy, get him with Confusion!"

The barrier dissipated and abra lifted one arm towards Raticate, which now squealed as it was lifted into the air once again. This time, though, the rat pokemon wasn't thrown but was instead continuously assaulted with psychic energy as Espy poured her power into the attack. Raticate twisted and turned in mid-air as its body was surrounded with a blue aura, but the big rat finally succumbed to the psychic assault and went limp. Espy closed her eyes and released raticate, which fainted upon hitting the ground.

"Yes!" Ethan pumped the air with his fists. Lyra laughed and clapped, her Chikorita barking as well. The trainer's shoulders were slumped as he handed Ethan his winnings and left the two on the road. Ethan picked up Abra and held her in front of him. "Espy, you were awesome! I knew you could do it."

A general hum of amusement echoed in his mind as a blue light surrounded the abra again before she teleported onto his shoulders. Espy's head rested against the back of Ethan's head, and the boy knew Espy had fallen asleep again. It was fine, though. She had earned a good rest.

Ethan let Lyra battle the next few battles on their way to Violet City. Her chikorita wasn't very fast and took a lot of hits, but it was very capable of dishing out that damage right back at her opponents. On one occasion Emerald had sprayed poison powder all over the field and simply let the spores fight the battle for her as the opposing pokemon collapsed after a short while. Phoenix was fast and aggressive, though she tended to fly in the face of her opponent's attacks and take the hit while attacking her opponent. Lyra was trying to teach the small bird pokemon to learn to be move evasive (yes, you are fast and fierce, but you still are just a little bird) but Ethan doubted Phoenix would learn her lesson until she took a real beating.

They reached Professor Elm's friend's house in a couple of hours. The house was small and nondescript, sitting just off the path to Violet City. Ethan looked around the neatly trimmed lawn; there were only a few rattata and caterpie on the edges of the house and no trainers. Most of them didn't stray off the path to the city and tended to cluster on the route to battle other trainers. The house was definitely off the beaten path.

Lyra knocked on the door. Seconds later, the door opened and revealed a man with short gray hair wearing a wrinkled suit. His eyes twinkled as he looked down at the two young trainers and he smiled, though it was mostly hidden behind his great mustache which obscured the bottom third of his face.

"Ho!" boomed the man, adjusting the brim of his hat. "I appear to have two young trainers on my porch. I can't say that I get visitors often, so you must be the two young rookies that John sent over here to my humble abode!"

"John?" said Ethan after a moment, slightly overwhelmed by the man.

"John? Ah, my apologies. That would be Professor Elm to you kids. And I completely forgot to introduce myself, such dreadful manners. My actual name is Orin Utaru, but it's such a mouthful for other people to say, so you can just call me Mr. Pokemon! Everyone does."

"Uh, hi Mr. Pokemon," said Ethan after a moment. "I'm Ethan and that's Lyra."

"Glad to meet you both," said the old man, shaking both of their hands. "Let's head inside, now. I wouldn't want to keep the both of you waiting on my porch!"

Inside, Ethan and Lyra sat on the couch while Mr. Pokemon searched his cabinet in the back. "Sorry to keep you kids waiting; just give me a second!"

Ethan glanced around the house. The house was as simple and plain as it was on the outside. There were only a few choice pieces of furniture in what had to be the living room and the only thing on his wall was a painting of a pair of pikachu playing around in a grassy field, with other pokemon in the background. Ethan heard something behind him and turned around to see a different man, who was dressed in a lab coat and wore a plain white shirt with beige pants. "I thought I heard a different set of voices," said the man, looking at Ethan and Lyra. "Orin does seem to talk to himself more as of late, but this didn't sound like his usual rant. You two must be Ethan and Lyra."

Ethan looked a bit confused as to how the old man knew their names, but Lyra stood straight up, causing Ethan to look up and stand as well. "It's nice to meet you, Professor Oak!" said Lyra, stuttering slightly.

That got Ethan's attention as his head whipped towards the old man. The most famous Pokemon researcher in the world and the star of Professor Oak's Pokemon Talk stepped forward and shook their hands, though Ethan's hand remained in the air after the professor had stepped back. "You're…Professor Oak?"

"That's right," said the Professor, smiling. "I'm Professor Oak. Jonathan has told me quite a bit about you two. I have to say, Ethan, becoming a Pokemon Champion will not be easy. But it's a worthy goal for a fine young man such as yourself and I have no doubt that if you work hard and fight with your best, you will achieve it someday."

"…thank you," said Ethan, still slightly gaping at the Professor.

"I admit, it's not the first time I've heard of this," mused the Professor, reminiscing in some memory likely older than the two of them. "But it's how legends are born. Never mind that now; I'm just an old man losing myself in my memories. Professor Elm gave the two of you the Pokedex, correct?"

Ethan and Lyra nodded. "Good, you'll need it on your journey. When I created the Pokedex years ago, there wasn't a single entry in it. It was due to the efforts of young trainers such as yourself that it has become the single most powerful resource you can have. Any pokemon you meet, you can read and learn about from the Pokedex. Of course, I don't believe we've seen every pokemon just yet. There are still many mysteries waiting out there for you all to discover, and it's up to the two of you to find them and unlock their secrets."

"I've got it!" Mr. Pokemon finally emerged from the back and noticed the scene. "Oh, Samuel, my friend, leaving so soon?"

"I've stayed too long already, Orin," said Professor Oak, chuckling and opening the door. "I have to get to Goldenrod for my usual radio show. Ethan, Lyra, good luck on your journeys."

The authority of Pokemon research waved them goodbye and slipped outside. Mr. Pokemon captured their attention now as he held a bundle of cloth in his hands.

"This is what I want Professor Elm to examine," said Mr. Pokemon, and took off the top layer of cloth. A small spherical object sat in his palm. Light blue and red squares dotted its surface, though the majority of the object was covered in a milky white. It seemed almost alive in his hands, and it took Ethan a few moments to realize what he was looking at.

"A pokemon egg?" said Ethan, confused.

"Not just any pokemon egg," said Mr. Pokemon, grinning. "I have no idea what's in this egg, and I have seen quite a few on my travels. A friend of mine in Ecruteak gave it to me. I bet you can't find this kind of egg in Johto. I thought Professor Elm might be able to tell me what this is. He's the best when it comes to the research of Pokemon evolution, better than even Professor Oak. I'm sorry to trouble you both, having the two of you going back and forth. But please make sure to hand this egg to Professor Elm!"

"Will do, Mr. Pokemon!" said Lyra, taking the egg and cloth from the eccentric man. After fiddling with the egg for a few moments, the egg was safely secured in her backpack, peeking out from behind the zipper. "We're going to head back now."

"Happy traveling!" said Mr. Pokemon as the door closed behind them. Lyra adjusted the backpack on her shoulders before looking at Ethan. "Let's go."

At that moment Ethan's phone rang and he curiously held the device up. "It's from Professor Elm," said Ethan, and he answered the call. "Hello?"

"H-hello?" said Professor Elm, stumbling over his words in the call. "Ethan? It's a disaster! What should I do? It…oh, no…please get back here now!"

"Professor?" said Ethan, a bit of worry creeping into his voice. "What happened?"

"Someone has stolen a pokemon from the lab!" Elm cried. "Come back immediately!"

The call ended.

Ethan frowned at the phone in his hand for a second before he shoved the device into his pocket. "What's going on?" said Lyra, having picked up on the urgency.

Ethan was already walking back. "Someone just stole a pokemon from the lab. We've got to head back _now_."

Lyra frowned and nodded. "Let's."

…

"I don't like this," said Ethan, looking down at his phone again. "He's not even answering his phone."

"He's probably talking with the police trying to track down whoever stole the pokemon," said Lyra. "Don't bother him. We'll find out what happened when we get there."

Ethan glanced up at the sky. The sky was mostly blue, but there were a few tinges of orange on the horizon as the sun began to set. It looked like they wouldn't be able to make it to Violet City tonight. He was feeling a bit frustrated, but he knew it couldn't be helped.

"Hey, you!"

Ethan looked up at the sound. A person dressed in a black jacket and dark pants stood directly in the center of the road back to New Bark Town. He had red hair and a haughty countenance. His dark eyes were fierce and his lips were curled in a smirk. Ethan instinctively disliked him.

Lyra stepped forward. "Who are you?" she asked, though a note of annoyance had entered her voice. It appeared she didn't really like the red haired boy either. Chikorita had adopted an attack stance, having picked up on the tension and ready to react to anything if necessary.

The boy ignored her and focused on Ethan. "You got a Pokemon at the lab."

It wasn't a question. Ethan frowned. "So what if I did?"

The boy grinned darkly and snorted. "What a waste. A wimp like you."

Emerald growled now. The boy barely glanced down at the grass type as he stared at Ethan, who stepped forward now. Ethan could actually feel Espy's psychic energy as it sprang to life, and a note of anger echoed across his mind.

"That thing's not even a real starter," scoffed the boy, reaching into his pocket to pull out a pokeball. "I, on the other hand, actually have a good pokemon."

A flash of white illuminated the boy's figure as he released his pokemon. The white energy soon coalesced into the form of a squat, blue pokemon. The pokemon cried out as it appeared on the ground, and seemed to smile at them with its large mouth and rows of sharp teeth, completely at odds with its scowling trainer who stood behind the totodile.

Ethan looked at the pokemon he had hoped would be his starter, his mind making the connection instantly. "You're the one who stole the pokemon from Professor Elm's lab."

The boy flicked a lock of red hair from his hair. "You sound a bit mad. Something wrong?"

"Yeah," said Ethan, glaring at the boy. "You're going to give that pokemon back."

The boy grinned. "You going to make me?"

Espy teleported onto the ground, her body outlined in blue. Her eyes were shining blue, brighter than they had ever been before. She was going to give it everything she had. Ethan wholeheartedly agreed.

"Espy, use Confusion!" Ethan shouted. The abra practically glowed as she raised her arm towards the Totodile, which was still grinning at them.

"Totodile, focus!" The boy snapped. "It's a psychic type. Use Bite!"

The water type snapped up as it realized it was in a battle. The totodile quickly ran at abra and opened its jaws wide, which glistened with the dark type energy that the Raticate had used earlier as well. Ethan gritted his teeth; the trainer wasn't stupid. He knew exactly what he was up against.

Espy lowered her arm, confused now that her target had "disappeared." The abra instinctively teleported before the totodile reached her position, appearing just to the water type's right side. _She doesn__'__t know he__'__s there!_

"Espy, use barrier!" Ethan shouted just as the totodile lunged at the abra. A wall of light appeared between the two pokemon and totodile reared back and bit the shield with its large jaws. The totodile hung there in mid-air, biting down on the barrier with what had to be bone-crushing force, even for a barely grown pokemon. Totodile and its kind were known for their enormous bite strength. Even the smallest Totodile could grind down anything once it was between their teeth.

And the barrier was cracking. Ethan ran a gauntlet of possibilities through his mind. As he stood there, watching the two pokemon contest, an idea sprang into his head. "Espy, the totodile is where your barrier is breaking! Use confusion on that spot!"

Espy glowed as she turned her head towards the totodile, which was still gnawing on the barrier. "Hop off, stupid!" said the angry trainer, and Totodile complied, hopping off just as a wave of light blue energy washed over the space he had occupied moments ago. "Use water gun!"

"Teleport!" Espy flickered out of existence as the totodile disengaged its bite attack and launched a jet of water towards the psychic type, crashing through its weakened barrier and narrowly missing the abra. Espy appeared behind totodile, who was completely unaware of the psi pokemon's position now.

"He's not using Bite! Confusion!"

Espy raised her arm and Totodile was lifted into air, struggling as Espy began to pour psychic energy into its body. "Don't panic!" demanded the trainer, who glared at his pokemon. "Just focus and use water gun on that abra!"

Totodile squirmed and managed to turn towards abra. The water type opened its jaws wide and launched another water gun at abra, who teleported away. Totodile landed and immediately fired another water gun where abra had teleported to. Espy brought up another barrier and held it there as Totodile continuously fired a stream of water from its gaping mouth. Espy's eyes were shining blue as the psychic type poured energy into the barrier, which was barely holding against the stream of water washing against it.

"Hang in there, Espy!" said Ethan, though he was worried for his friend. He didn't know how strong Totodile was, and he knew that her barrier couldn't hold forever. But Espy held strong in the face of totodile's assault as the water type continued to pound her psychic barrier with its attack. It was a battle of attrition, and Ethan didn't know who would win.

"Stop!" ordered the trainer, and totodile complied, instantly halting its attack. Espy wearily drew down her barrier as the totodile grinned and hopped around. Ethan looked confusedly and angrily at the trainer, who was twirling a pokeball in his hand. "I've seen enough. That was a waste of time."

"Finish the battle!" said Ethan, though he worriedly glanced at his friend, who was sitting silently on the ground. "This isn't over yet."

"Yeah it is," said the red head, returning his Totodile in mid-hop. "We're done here."

"That's what you think," said Lyra angrily, the first words she had said in minutes. Emerald growled as it stepped towards the trainer, who didn't seem fazed at all. "You're not going anywhere, except back to the lab where you're going to return that pokemon."

"Do you know who I am?" said the trainer, eyes flashing and completely ignoring Lyra's threat. Ethan and Lyra blinked. This was not what they had expected him to say at all.

He seemed to take their momentary silence as an answer. "I'm going to be the world's strongest Pokemon trainer. No one's going to stand in my way, especially not _you _two."

Then he turned and sprinted into the adjacent forest. Ethan and Lyra stood there, stunned, before Lyra snapped out of it. "Chikorita, follow him!"

The grass type barked as she leapt into the forest. Ethan held Lyra's shoulder before she ran into the brush herself. "Ethan, what are you doing? We have to stop him!"

Ethan shook his head. "You're not going to be able to run through those woods as fast as Chikorita. You could get lost or hurt in there, and I don't care if that happens to that trainer. Chikorita will find him and stop him."

Lyra bit back her response and sighed, explosively. "Fine."

Ethan picked up Espy now, who looked fully asleep now. "Guess I won't be asking Espy to see if she can sense him," the young trainer said as he placed the psychic in her usual position on his shoulders. "Looks like we're waiting."

Minutes later, Emerald returned, her leaf limp and her head down as she walked back to Lyra, who picked up the grass type immediately. "Oh, it's fine, Emerald. We'll find him eventually."

Ethan stared at the forest in which the red head had disappeared, as if he could see the boy scoffing and smirking at him through the cover of the woods. He clenched his fists. "Yeah. We will."

…

"You found the culprit?" Professor Elm exclaimed, running his hands through his short brown hair. "And he escaped?"

"He ran off before we could stop him," said Ethan sheepishly.

"And Chikorita couldn't find him either," said Lyra. "Sorry, Professor."

"No, it's fine. I'm just glad you two kids weren't hurt." The Professor sat down in his chair, sighing. Ethan had winced at the damages around the lab when they had arrived. The side window was broken, where the angry trainer had likely broken in through, some of the computers were smashed, a few pieces of furniture had been beaten or knocked over, and, obviously, one of the lab's pokemon was missing.

Ethan's hands had clenched into fists. There was no way that he was going to let that jerk get away with this. Not if he had anything to say about it.

"We had just gotten a new batch of starter pokemon from the center when it happened," said Professor Elm glumly. "I knew I shouldn't have closed down early for the evening."

"Things happen, Professor Elm," said Lyra. "You just got to keep moving on. We'll find him and bring that totodile back."

Elm shook his head. "No, it's not your job to find that young man. You let the authorities handle it; they'll keep an eye out for him. With your description, it shouldn't be too difficult for them to get word out. It's a shame we didn't get his name with it, too."

Ethan nodded, but he knew that it wasn't over. Not yet. He would go ahead and find that trainer for the police. He would get to finish that battle, and he would win.

"Don't worry, Professor, I know something that will cheer you up," said Lyra as she reached into her backpack and pulled out the pokemon egg. True to her word, Elm's eyes lit up as soon as she had taken the cloth off. The Professor leapt off his seat and quickly ran his hands over the egg.

"An egg? So this is what Orin wanted to show me!" Professor Elm quickly took the egg from Lyra and pored over the object, clearly taking mental measurements and absorbing the details. "Ah yes. I think I know what egg this is. It's quite rare, especially in Johto."

The Professor seemed to stop, as if he had thought better of what he had been about to say. He looked at Lyra, and then back at the egg. Back at Lyra. Then slowly towards the egg.

"Actually, I have a different idea in mind for this," said Professor Elm as he turned towards Lyra. "Pokemon eggs are a fascinating area of my research. Over the course of our study, we've learned that the eggs grow and mature through proximity to other pokemon and a natural environment. Like everything else, they don't change unless there is change around them."

Professor Elm handed the egg back to Lyra, who took it with wide eyes. "One of the more exciting experiences as a trainer is the chance to raise a baby pokemon from the moment it hatches. It's a bonding experience that will never leave you. I believe that both you and the egg will grow in time during your travels. I hope you'll accept it."

"Uh, thank you, Professor Elm," Lyra blurted out, excited as she gazed at the egg.

"Do you want to know what's in the egg?" asked the Professor.

Lyra looked at the egg. "No, thanks," she said, smiling slightly. "I'd rather be surprised. It's part of the experience too, isn't it?"

Professor Elm smiled back. "It definitely is." Now he turned towards both Ethan and Lyra, his face turning serious. "I appreciate the help, but the two of you can be rest assured that I will handle things back at the lab from now on. In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have told you to come back for this. You're on your pokemon journey. It's your path and I shouldn't have interrupted it. You could stay here for another night and head out in the morning. I won't hold the two of you back any longer."

"It wasn't a problem for us, Professor," said Ethan. Abra hummed in agreement in his mind. "We don't mind helping."

"Really, Professor," said Lyra.

Professor Elm sighed. "I knew the two of you would say that. But, trust me, I won't do it again. Go home and get some rest. It's getting late."

Ethan and Lyra said their goodbyes and returned to their respective houses in the morning. Tomorrow, their journey would begin in earnest.

And nothing would stand in their way again.

…

The bug catcher stood at one end of the field. Ethan stood at the other.

"Go Beedrill!" The pokeball whistled through the air and snapped open, releasing a dangerous looking pokemon with sharp spikes at the end of its arms that buzzed around the bug catcher as it waited for its opponent to come forth.

Espy teleported off Ethan's shoulders, appearing roughly twenty feet away from the beedrill. Ethan's eyes had narrowed as soon as the beedrill had appeared. "Stay away from those stingers, Espy," warned Ethan. "If you let that beedrill too close, you'll be finished."

Abra said nothing but simply raised her barrier. While Ethan and Lyra had made their way back to route 31 this morning, Ethan had had Espy practice using her barrier, pushing her to hold it longer and stronger every time. So it was with practiced ease that Espy held her barrier in place now, all but immune to any attack beedrill could throw her way.

The bug catcher had a confused expression on his face, not having expected a trainer with a psychic type, but he quickly regained his scowl from before as he pointed at Espy. "Beedrill, use poison sting! Then horn attack."

Beedrill buzzed angrily in response as it flew straight towards Espy, firing several poisoned stingers towards the psychic. The projectiles simply bounced off the barrier, which was when Espy retaliated. Light blue energy surrounded her body again, and the beedrill froze five feet away from striking her barrier with its deadly stinger. Espy held the beedrill in place while the bug struggled to break free, but it was no use. Espy had a lock on the beedrill and there was no escape. After several seconds, the beedrill collapsed to the ground.

"Good job Espy," Ethan called out. Espy dissipated her barrier and quickly teleported back onto Ethan's shoulders. The bug catcher returned his beedrill and, with a sidelong angry look at Ethan, ran away.

"Hey!" Ethan shouted after the fleeing trainer.

"There's no point in it, Ethan," said Lyra, laughing from where she stood. Emerald followed closely behind her as she made her way towards her friend. "Some people are just sore losers."

"Yeah, I know," said Ethan, still annoyed but quickly working over it. "But it's like the third time's it's happened on this route. Why can't people just take a loss?"

"Because that's not the way the world works," replied Lyra, walking past him now. "Come on, Ethan. Violet City is just up ahead."

Ethan grinned. Now that was something that could take his mind off the cowardly bug catcher.

Violet City. The fifth largest city in the Johto region, home to the famous Sprout Tower and, more importantly, the flying type gym, headed by Gym Leader Falkner. Ethan looked around the city in amazement. He hadn't been in Violet City since he was little. The tiled roofs and flowing architecture of the city was a relic of the past, back from before the Great War that had consumed the Johto region. It reminded Ethan of the history of Violet City, though that feeling quickly disappeared as he remembered that there was a _gym_ in the city.

"Hey, where are you going?" said Lyra as Ethan began to walk away.

"To battle the gym leader of course," said Ethan confidently. "That's what we're here for."

"Nuh-uh," said Lyra, grabbing him by his shoulder and yanking him back. Espy was jostled but remained asleep, or something close to it. "We're going to the Sprout Tower first. Professor Elm said it was definitely something we should see while we're in Violet City."

Ethan struggled against Lyra's grip. "Yeah. Right after we battle the gym leader."

"Professor Elm also said that inside the Sprout Tower the sages there test the abilities of young pokemon trainers and their bond with their pokemon."

Ethan stopped. He did want to battle Falkner, but it couldn't hurt to train a bit more before taking on a gym leader. The young trainer sighed. "Fine. We'll go to the Sprout Tower."

Lyra smiled. "That's the spirit. Follow me. It's this way."

After a few turns, they arrived at the Sprout Tower. Ethan gazed up and up at the tall, wooden tower. If anything was a relic of the past, the Sprout Tower was the epitome. The tower stood several stories high, taller than every other building in the city. Something about the old building seemed alive to Ethan, as if the tower was almost moving. Ethan blinked; the tower actually _was_ moving. He could see the edges of the building slowly but surely moving and obscuring the sky behind the tower.

"Uh, should the tower really be swaying like that?" said Ethan nervously. "It doesn't seem safe."

"Oh, calm down," said Lyra, clearly admiring the building. "The Sprout Tower is a pagoda. It's meant to sway with the wind and vibrate a little. Not only does it protect the building from environmental disasters like earthquakes, it also speaks to the philosophy of the sages. How everything is alive, how the building is tune with nature. It's really—hey!"

Ethan had wandered towards the side of the building and was looking intently towards the space between the edge of the woods and the tower. Lyra frowned and walked over to Ethan. "What are you doing?"

"I thought I saw something," said Ethan, concentrating on something. His eyes had narrowed, and he felt a pulse of curiosity from Espy when he neared the tower. Something was definitely there, hidden in the shadows.

His eyes scanned the alley. The wind had died down, but the short grass was still rustling as if something was passing through it. No other shadows anywhere, but…

A wisp of smoke was curled around the edge of the tower, seemingly out of place in the green and peaceful setting. Ethan frowned, and that's when Espy teleported in front of Ethan, eyes glowing and ready for battle. "Espy? You see something?"

The smoke seemed to stop moving. Then it writhed and expanded, quickly taking up more than a foot of space as the smoke seemed to form into a rough ball shaped object, where the smoke was the darkest. Trails of purple mist lingered around the edges of the more solid mass in the center. Then two blood red circles appeared on the mass, and the sphere was partially "opened" towards the bottom, like a mouth. It took Ethan a second to figure out what he was looking at, and he aimed his Pokedex at the ghost type pokemon before him.

Dexter took a second to register the reading. "_Gastly. It wraps its opponent in its gas-like body, slowly weakening its prey by poisoning it through the skin. This gastly knows the moves hypnosis, lick, spite, astonish, and curse. Its ability is Levitate, which allows the pokemon to float off the ground and become immune to ground-based attacks.__"_

"Uh, Ethan, you want that thing?" asked Lyra worriedly as Ethan withdrew a pokeball from his pocket. "Gastly are poisonous and notoriously hard to control; all ghost types are. Plus, Espy's a psychic type. They usually don't place nice with psychics."

"I know," Ethan muttered, looking intently at the gastly which curiously floated towards the two of them now. "I just have a feeling."

The gastly seemed to notice Espy now, and a second passed before the gastly grinned with its fanged mouth and stuck its long tongue out at the psychic type. Ethan raised an eyebrow. That was not the reaction he had been expecting.

A pulse of worry echoed in his mind, and Ethan realized it wasn't his. He looked down at Espy, who was still lightly shrouded in blue. Ethan grimaced. Psychic types were weak to ghost types. The otherworldly energy that was ghost energy was absolutely foreign to the psychics, which immersed themselves in the trappings of this reality. Ghost energy easily phased through psychic energy and could ravage the psychic's mind, disorienting it and causing the psychic to go catatonic. An instinctive fear of ghost types was built into every psychic pokemon, an evolutionary trait that allowed them to detect when a ghost was near and, more often that not, evade and flee.

Ethan's jaw tightened as he looked at the gastly, which was busy laughing in an eerie and unsettling way. The ghost type's eyes and mouth rotated around its face and its tongue was also stuck out, pointing towards Espy, who had already drawn up a barrier. Not that the barrier would do anything against a ghost type. Ghost energy would be able to pass through the psychic shield with no trouble and reach Espy. No, Espy couldn't let Gastly within five feet of her. Not only was she vulnerable to the ghost type energy, but gastly was also made up of toxic poisonous gases that would have even a grimer shirking away.

It would be a hard fight. But Ethan didn't start his journey to lose.

"Espy, use Confusion! Teleport away if gastly gets even close to you." Espy's eyes flashed and a pulse of psychic energy fanned out towards Gastly, which instantly noticed the attack and levitated above the psychic wave. It stuck its tongue out again, and this time it flew hard and fast towards Espy, clearly intending to grasp her with its body.

Espy teleported before the gastly had even made it halfway across the field, causing the ghost type to pause as it searched for its prey. The ghost pokemon suddenly froze up, surrounded in a blue aura which held its corporeal form in an iron grip. Gastly shifted around, expelling poisonous gas and rasping as it struggled to free itself. Its eyes rotated 180 degrees around its body and found Espy, who had teleported behind a small bush near the tower. It seemed to grin.

Then Gastly exploded in a puff of gas and ghostly energy. Ethan frowned as the remnants of the gas quickly moved towards Espy and reformed as they hurled towards her, coalescing back into the cackling form of the gastly as it lunged towards the psychic. Espy teleported again, and Gastly whirled around and dodged an expertly aimed confusion at its back. It wouldn't fall for the trick again.

Ethan and Espy warily watched the ghost type as it pulled in on itself and shrunk to half of its size, condensing its gases into a dark purple color. Seconds later, gastly exploded outward and propelled itself and its gases towards Espy faster than Ethan could react. Luckily, Espy had recognized the danger of Astonish and teleported backwards, slipping just out of Gastly's grasp. As soon as Espy had reappeared, the psychic type raised both arms and Gastly, overextended, was trapped in its psychic prison again. This time, Gastly didn't destroy its corporeal form and instead struggled to free itself, locked into this reality and trapped with confusion. Ethan internally breathed a sigh of relief. He was lucky that that particular trick was probably a draining effort and couldn't be done more than once. He twirled the pokeball once in his hand before he threw the sphere at Gastly, whose eyes comically widened before the pokeball entered its center mass and sucked in its body and its gases. The pokeball, now slightly purple, clattered onto the ground and twisted back and forth as gastly tried to break free of its new prison. The pokeball pulsed red and finally stopped rolling after a few more tense seconds. Ethan stumbled over to the pokeball, where he picked it up and held it in trembling hands.

"Yeah!" Ethan shouted as he held the pokeball triumphantly in the air. "I caught my first pokemon!

Ethan knelt down to the abra's level. "You did great, Espy. You held your own against a ghost type."

Amusement and relief flooded through him. Espy teleported onto his shoulders and Ethan stood up, looking back at Lyra. "How's that for you, Lyra?"

"Kind of looked like Espy did all the work," said the girl, shrugging as she and Emerald walked over to them. "But good job anyways. Still can't believe you're going to try to train that gastly."

"I love a challenge," said Ethan, looking down at his pokeball. "Might as well see what I'm up against now."

Bright light suffused the air as gastly was released. The ghost type hovered in the air a few feet away from Ethan, who looked at the ghost type curiously. Gastly looked back, its eyes slipping down its body and ending up below its mouth. Espy's eyes were bright blue as a thin barrier washed over Ethan, protecting him from the small wisps of poisonous gas that escaped Gastly's control.

"Okay, Gastly," said Ethan, capturing the pokemon's attention. The ghost type floated closer to him. "I caught you. You know what that means. You're part of the team now. And we're going to be the best we can on this team. But that means listening to us when you're out of line and doing something wrong. We'll all grow together on this team, and that also means we don't leave each other behind. We help each other. Got it?"

Gastly seemed to ponder his words for a few seconds before "nodding", essentially meaning that its eyes and mouth moved up and down. Then the ghost type rushed towards Ethan without warning. Espy's eyes flashed blue but there was nothing she could do but tighten her barrier as gastly exploded into gases and whirled around Ethan in a tornado of purple. Seconds passed, and the gases retracted back into Gastly's form. The ghost type cackled and stuck its tongue out as Ethan coughed from the prank. Lyra, alarmed at first, started to chuckle and giggle as well. "Told you, Ethan. Ghost types are notorious for being mischievous and really hard to train."

"We'll see about that," said Ethan as he recovered from his coughs. The young trainer looked at his new companion. "I guess you need a name, don't you? Hmmm…it's got to be something that suits you."

Gastly flew around in a vertical circle as he thought aloud. "You're definitely a prankster; you like to play jokes on people. Hm. How about…Tricky?"

Gastly stopped moving and seemed to hover towards Ethan as its face contorted into something that Ethan guessed to mean "thoughtful." After a moment, gastly returned its attention towards him and nodded, cackling as it flew around in the air.

"Tricky it is." Ethan's eyes tracked the gastly in the air and the ghost type finally returned to its position in front of Ethan, who now pulled out his pokeball. "Okay, Tricky. Do you mind going into your pokeball? I don't think the Sprout Tower sages are going to like a ghost type running around in their tower."

Tricky turned towards the tower and turned back, sticking its tongue out at Ethan again. Then the ghost nodded, and Ethan returned it back to its pokeball.

Lyra was shaking her head as Ethan looked back at her. "Still think you're crazy for it," she commented. "Come on. We've out here long enough."

Inside, the Sprout Tower was as large as it looked on the outside. The ceiling was high above his head as he looked at the massive wooden structure positioned in the center of the tower. The wooden balance slightly swayed, moving left and right, and Ethan found himself almost hypnotized by the sight. It felt…peaceful, oddly enough, and his eyes began to drift close as he stood there in the warmth of the building, surrounded by a quiet murmur of voices in the background and the occasional cry of a pokemon. Espy shifted in her spot on his shoulders and Ethan's eyes snapped open. He shook himself out of his reverie and noticed that Lyra had already approached one of the sages, who bowed before he released a bellsprout.

Ethan walked over closer to the impending battle. Lyra had released Phoenix, who had more than enough space in the vast room to fly around and maneuver in. The pidgey cried out once before taking to the air, circling above Bellsprout. The bellsprout swayed in tune with the pagoda, waiting for pidgey as the bird pokemon circled its prey from above. "Bellsprout, use razor leaf," the sage called out.

"Phoenix, use quick attack!" The bird pokemon flew up and dived down, blurring as it achieved terminal velocity and accelerated towards the grass type. Bellsprout slung several sharp leaves towards Phoenix, though it was obvious that the bird pokemon had learned its lesson from before as Phoenix effortlessly dodged the razor leaf and struck Bellsprout squarely in the center of its vine-like body. Bellsprout collapsed as the pidgey fluttered back onto Lyra's shoulder. She stroked the bird's crest, who nuzzled her neck in return. The sage smiled and returned his pokemon, bowing to her. Lyra repeated the gesture and walked back to Ethan.

"Good battle," he commented. Lyra had taught Phoenix how to use gravity and its body to its advantage. Not a move was wasted, and her attacks were efficient and powerful.

"Thanks," said Lyra, rolling her shoulders to the annoyance of Phoenix, who chirped as its roost was disturbed slightly. "I'm going to train Phoenix more here. She has some catching up to do with Emerald and she'd do well against the grass types they like to use here."

"I think I'll use Espy until she gets tired," said Ethan, shrugging. "I don't know how Tricky will do, but it seems pretty strong." Ethan gestured towards the stairs. "Do you know how many floors this thing has?"

"Five," said Lyra, raising an eyebrow and smiling a little. "Lots of battles."

Ethan grinned back. "My kind of place."

Several floors up, they had finally reached the top of Sprout Tower. As expected, Lyra's pidgey had dominated every sage they had run across. The only time Phoenix had run into trouble was when the opposing trainer had released a Pikachu. At that point, Emerald had come into the battle and took a few nasty shocks that left her back slightly blackened before the pikachu had been knocked out.

Espy was stronger than the pokemon she went up against and easily avoided any attack they threw at her. She could raise a barrier to block an attack and teleport if the other pokemon got too close. Confusion then trapped the pokemon and either threw the pokemon around until it fainted or held the pokemon in place and assaulted it with psychic energy. But Espy grew tired from using her powers after several battles, and then Ethan had to use Tricky.

Tricky was as different from Espy as ghost types were from psychic types. They had completely different battling styles and personalities. Whereas Espy was more reserved and tended to use her abilities efficiently, applying a certain amount of energy when needed like the tip of a fulcrum, Tricky was loud and effusive, taking every chance to terrorize the opposing pokemon and fly around as if the ghost type were performing a show for everyone watching. But Tricky proved to be fast and strong, and it was just as intelligent and cunning as Ethan had imagined a ghost type would be. In one battle, Tricky had rushed towards a bellsprout who lashed out with a vine whip. The ghost type would dissipate at the blow and flow around the bellsprout, choking it with its poisonous gases before it reformed itself. In another instance, Tricky had been battling another trainer's butterfree when the ghost type used Astonish to cause butterfree to flinch and then reappeared behind the pokemon and used its Lick to paralyze the bug type. Tricky was dangerous, and it was easy for Ethan to see how many young trainers were often involved in "training accidents" with ghost type pokemon. Not that he would let that happen, though.

Ethan and Lyra made their way to the center of the tower, where a much older and well-dressed sage stood. His eyes were lined with wrinkles and his white mustache hung over his face. He greeted the pair with a smile and a bow. "So good of you to come here! I enjoy seeing the bonds between pokemon and their trainers. I am Li, the Elder of the Sprout Tower Sages."

"Hello, sir, I'm Ethan," said Ethan.

"And I'm Lyra," said Lyra.

The Elder smiled wider and gestured with a cloaked arm at the room they stood in. The top floor of Sprout Tower was spartan and devoid of any decoration or furniture, save for the few kneeling pads in front of the wooden balance beam, which continued to sway as Li spoke. "Sprout Tower is a place of training. People and pokemon test their bonds to build a bright future together. I am the final test. Allow me to check the ties between you and your Pokemon!"

"Let's do it," said Ethan, stepping forward. Espy teleported onto the wooden floor from his shoulders, having rested from her previous fight.

Li continued to smile as he released a bellsprout, this one slightly bigger than the ones they had faced previously. The bellsprout swayed in tune with the wooden balance beam, but its beady eyes were focused on Espy.

"This is Twi," said the Elder, folding his arms together within his cloak. "He would like you to make the first move."

Ethan shrugged. "Espy, use confusion."

The abra's eyes lit up as it poured psychic energy across the room. The attack easily reached bellsprout and enveloped the grass type as it stood there, swaying slightly. Ethan frowned as the bellsprout continued to look at Espy, who was also puzzled at the lack of struggle. Li stood there calmly, not even calling out a move for Twi to use. Ethan raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. "Knock him out."

Espy renewed her assault. The bellsprout was struck with psychic energy, and it twisted and wriggled in its prison. Half a minute passed, and Espy was still attacking the bellsprout with Confusion, which refused to go down. Ethan was confused. Twi was probably experienced and had fought more than a few battles, but it should not have been able to endure a psychic attack for as long as this. Ethan watched the bell sprout carefully. Every psychic attack Espy threw his way, the bellsprout would wriggle and twist, swaying and recoiling in the opposite direction of the attack. Then another attack, and it would twist the other way. Espy pushed, and Twi pulled. Espy pulled, and Twi pushed.

Ethan's eyes widened as he realized what was happening. The Elder seemed to smile as he noticed the expression on the young trainer's face. "Good. You are a smart young man."

Ethan's expression turned determined as he faced the battle with new knowledge. "Espy, lift the bellsprout into the air and knock it out."

Espy complied, levitating the bellsprout high in the air before bringing it crashing down to the ground. Before it landed, a thin red beam of light shot out and intercepted the fall, returning Twi. "Most young trainers rely too much on the power of their pokemon," said the Elder, smiling. "They do not realize that power is useless without direction. As your abra attacked, Twi simply redirected the flow of energy and rendered the power useless. It is always wise to use your opponent's strength against them. You can see beyond the trick. This will serve you well."

Li withdrew another pokeball from within his cloak and released another bellsprout. this one stood stock still as it looked at the psychic type.

Ethan glanced at Espy. The psychic's shoulders were slumped, having spent a lot of energy trying to defeat Twi, and its eyes were no longer as bright as they were at the start of the battle. Ethan was worried; Espy was obviously tired but seemed to be able to continue on. He hoped.

"This is La," said the Elder, gesturing towards the bellsprout who had an entirely different stance from the previous one. This bellsprout's body was curled and pointed towards the abra, scuttling side to side with his vines. If Ethan didn't know any better, it looked as if the bellsprout were stalking Espy. "She is Twi's opposite. She is much more aggressive, as you will see."

"La, use vine whip." The bellsprout scuttled forward and two vines shot out from its body, lashing at Espy, who quickly drew up a barrier and repelled the vines. The bellsprout continued to pound at the barrier with its vines as it drew closer to the psychic. Espy was showing signs of strain as the barrier began to fade from the attacks.

"Get out of there, Espy!" The abra teleported just as the bellsprout reached her position, attempting to encapsulate her barrier with more vines. Espy appeared behind La in a flash of light, another sign of her exhaustion. Most of the time Espy could teleport with ease and without any sound or light. A visible teleportation meant that Espy was using her abilities more wildly and with less precision. He needed to finish this battle fast.

"Espy, confusion! Trap her." Espy's eyes glowed blue and the bellsprout froze, its eyes closed as it writhed. This particular bellsprout didn't seem to absorb the attacks like its counterpart, and soon collapsed to the ground. Espy's eyes dimmed and her head dipped. She teleported onto Ethan's shoulders and slumped against his head.

"Good job, Espy," he said, patting her shoulder. A sleepy pulse of happiness resonated through him and he chuckled as he faced the Elder, who had pulled out another pokeball.

"Your abra fights well," Li commented as he released his last pokemon. "It is obvious your bond is strong with your pokemon. Let us see how your last pokemon fares against my own."

The hoothoot fluttered around the room, coming to a stop on a perch near the top of the room as it turned its enormous red eyes on Ethan, who now released his pokemon. Tricky cackled as it was released into the room, swooping around until it finally came to a stop a few feet in front of Ethan, who sighed. "Tricky, it's another battle. Careful, that hoothoot might have a few tricks up its sleeve."

Tricky grinned as it stuck its tongue out at Ethan and turned to face Hoothoot, who fluttered down to the ground now.

"This is Ro," said the Elder. "She has been my companion for years now. She will not be easy. Prepare yourself for the final test."

Ro hooted in agreement as the bird type took to the air, flying above Tricky now. Tricky cackled and raced towards hoothoot, expelling gas as it flew.

"Ro, use whirlwind," said Li, and the hoothoot began to beat its small wings, still generating enough of a wind that it impeded Tricky's ascent, who struggled to stay afloat against the gust.

Ethan realized the problem immediately. Not only would the whirlwind keep Tricky away from its opponent, but it would also deflect any residual poison gas that might have been leaked onto the battlefield and kept Ro safe.

He grinned. This was a battle. "Tricky, use hypnosis!"

Tricky stopped struggling and its eyes glowed bright red as it stared at hoothoot, who stared back in return. The bird type was forced to halt its whirlwind as it focused on repelling the attack with its own psychic abilities. Tricky cackled and continued to stare at Ro, now locked into a battle of the minds with the ghost type.

"Tricky, Astonish now!"

The ghost type immediately disengaged the psychic battle and exploded outwards towards Ro, expelling toxic gas all around the bird, who tried to flutter away but was caught in sudden attack.

"Ro, use confusion," said the Elder, calm as always. The hoothoot's eyes began to shine light blue as it drew from its latent psychic abilities. As Tricky reformed a few feet away from Ro, prepared to strike again, the ghost type froze as it was caught in the attack and began to struggle.

Ethan grinned. This battle was his now.

"Tricky, you know what to do. Use Feint," Ethan shouted up at the ghost. Tricky turned to face hoothoot and stuck its tongue out once before exploding in a cloud of purple gas, releasing it from the psychic prison as its corporeal form temporarily vanished. The bird began to cough as it lost altitude, the toxins in its system finally taking their toll. Several feet above Ro, the gases began to swirl and reform until they finally created enough mass for Tricky to appear again. The ghost type, although looking much more tired from before, still retained enough energy to cackle and swoop down towards Ro, who had looked up and chirped once before the ghost type enveloped the bird in toxic gas.

Ro collapsed on the ground as Tricky returned to its initial position in front of Ethan. The ghost type was too tired to play another prank on Ethan and instead floated closer to Espy, who flared up in response to the proximity of the ghost type. The gastly stuck its tongue out at the psychic. "Good job, Tricky," said Ethan, grinning as he returned the ghost.

"That was the best battle ever!" said Lyra, clapping Ethan on the back. Emerald was hopping on the ground, barking.

"Thanks," said Ethan, releasing a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding.

"Yes, good match."

The Elder had somehow appeared not three feet away from the pair. Li was smiling, as he had throughout the entire match. But his expression also looked thoughtful as he looked at Ethan. "Hmmm…" he murmured. "The way you battle is quite elegant. You should be able to stand up to Falkner."

"Wait," said Ethan, frowning. "How did you know—

"You are young," said Li enigmatically. "But the bonds between you and your pokemon will carry you far. You will meet your goal someday if you continue to grow stronger and closer with your team."

"Uh, thank you," said Ethan.

"Be sure not to forget the bond between you and your pokemon," Li warned, his expression growing serious. "Like the red-haired young man who passed through here recently. He did not show care towards his pokemon and treated them harshly. Pokemon are our friends and our partners, not tools of war."

The back of Ethan's neck began to prickle. It couldn't be, could it?

"Elder Li," said Lyra slowly, picking up on the suspicion. "Did that red-haired trainer have a totodile?"

"Yes," replied the Elder. "Though he also had a zubat with him. He treated both unkindly and beneath him. I feel sorry for his pokemon."

"That's because he's a criminal," said Ethan, uncharacteristically dark. "He stole that totodile. Do you know where he went next?"

"Though I am not certain, I believe he is following the same path you tread, young Ethan. I believe his next stop will be Azalea Town."

"Then that's where we'll go," said Ethan. "Thanks for your help, Elder Li."

"It is of no hindrance to me," said the elderly sage. "I am glad to be of assistance."

Ethan turned towards Lyra now. "Let's stop by the Pokemon Center. Then we'll hit the gym."

As they turned to leave, the elder's voice called out behind them, "Wait."

Li produced two small discs from within his sleeve and handed each to Ethan and Lyra. "You should be able to make good use of this. It is a Technical Machine called Flash. Teach it to your pokemon, and they can produce bright flashes of light, either to stun other pokemon or to illuminate dark areas. Use it how you see fit."

"Thank you!" said Ethan and Lyra, and they bade the old man goodbye.

In the pokemon center, Nurse Joy cheerfully handed his pokemon back to him from across the counter. "Your pokemon are back to their full health!" the red-headed nurse said brightly. "Come by again soon, Mr. Rider."

"Thank you," said Ethan, taking the two poke balls from Nurse Joy and walking over to where Lyra was sitting, chatting with her chikorita.

"Hey Ethan," said Lyra as she stroked Emerald's back to the contentedness of the grass type. "Got to say it again, great battling back there. I can see why you like Tricky. He's pretty powerful."

"Thanks, Lyra," said Ethan, taking a seat. "I'm sorry that you didn't get to battle the guy."

"It's fine," Lyra replied, waving him down. "I learned a lot by watching and listening to. That Elder was pretty smart."

"Yeah, he was," said Ethan. He looked down at the poke balls in his hand, running his fingers over the smooth surfaces of the spheres.

"Are you going to face Falkner now?" Lyra asked curiously.

Ethan shook his head. "No. After that match, I figured I have a lot to learn before I face a Gym Leader. I'm going to train tomorrow morning and do some research on Falkner. After that, then I'll face him."

Lyra nodded, as if she was satisfied with his decision. "Good. You usually like to run at things half-cocked. You can't do everything on the fly."

"But that's the fun part," replied Ethan, his lips quirking into a smile. He stood up. "I'm going to head to my room now."

Lyra laughed. "See you tomorrow."

"See you."

…

Ethan released both Espy and Tricky into the clearing.

Tricky looked around the grassy field that they had appeared in and her eyes flashed blue as she looked up at Ethan expectantly. "We're going to train today, Espy," said Ethan. "We've got a Gym match tomorrow and we've got to be ready."

Espy nodded. Her eyes flicked left and she instantly drew up a barrier as Tricky wheeled by, laughing and cavorting around the air. Ethan sighed. He knew Espy and Tricky were going to continue to have problems, but he hoped that they would someday find an acceptable compromise. Psychics just didn't really mesh well with ghosts.

He rolled his eyes as Tricky had found a caterpie at the edge of the clearing and had begun to torment the poor bug, which was desperately trying to crawl away from the ghost. "I'll let Tricky burn off some of his energy," Ethan decided, turning to face Espy. "We'll work on some techniques."

Falkner was a master of the flying type. He had trained for years with his father, the original Gym Leader, and had inherited his flying pokemon from him. That meant his pokemon had to very skilled, though he doubted that Falkner would be using such powerful pokemon against a rookie trainer. Still, it wasn't as if the Gym Leader would lower his own skill and experience level, so Ethan was still up against a veteran trainer who had honed his skills with a single pokemon type for years.

Ethan had to look at the weaknesses of flying types first. Obviously, they were weak to electric attacks. Electricity disrupted their movements and disabled their mobility, which was the single biggest asset a flying type had. But he didn't have any electric types. Ice was another option since the birds were susceptible to cold temperatures and shock, but he didn't have any ice types. Rock types were a good choice, since most tended to have incredibly tough hides and natural armor that allowed them to shrug off most flying attacks, but, again, he didn't have those either. So he had to get creative. What did Espy and Tricky have that would help them against flying types?

After he had Espy work on her barrier for an hour or two, he called Tricky over. "Okay, Espy," said Ethan, looking at both of them now. "We're going to work on your teleportation endurance. Tricky, you're going to try to catch Espy without using any of your actual moves. Espy, you're going to teleport away in this clearing for as long as you can manage."

Tricky cackled as it turned towards the psychic and rushed towards her. Espy instantly teleported away as soon as the ghost neared her spot in the field. Tricky whirled around and stuck its tongue out at Espy, who had appeared on the other edge of the field. Ethan found a relatively flat rock to sit on as he watched the exercise. This would take a while.

Ethan figured he knew what Espy's limits were now. Abra and their line were natural masters of teleportation, having developed the skill much earlier than any other psychic type known. Espy could constantly teleport for more than an hour, though she wasn't really using any attacks and Ethan knew that her endurance would probably be lower if she were using her other abilities in conjunction. She could even teleport with objects, which Ethan was honestly surprised at given her age. But it also gave him a couple of ideas for tomorrow's match.

Espy eventually teleported onto his shoulders as they finished her last exercise. The psychic was tired as she laid her head against his head, and Ethan let her rest. He turned to Tricky, who seemed to have an endless amount of energy and enthusiasm as the ghost swooped around him, almost making him go dizzy at the sight.

"Okay, Tricky," said Ethan, which caused the gastly to pause it waited for his command. "It's your turn now."

Tricky stuck his tongue out at him.

…

Ethan stood in front of the Violet Gym with Espy on his shoulders and Lyra and her pokemon at his side. His hands shook a little as he grabbed the door handle. "You want to go first?" said Lyra. "You look a bit tense."

"I'll be fine," said Ethan, though they both knew better. This was their first Gym battle. They both had no idea what to expect. But Ethan had trained and prepared for this. He would win.

The door opened, letting in a brief gust of wind as the two stepped inside the gym. Inside, the building was enormous, made up of almost wholly empty space save for the bench stands on the side. The floor turned into hard dirt and sand in the center of the Gym, where the battle would be fought. Bright white lights in the ceiling illuminated the vast Gym, though the corners and edges remained shadowed.

"State your name, challenger."

A young man's voice boomed across the Gym. Ethan looked up, towards the other side of the battlefield. An adolescent of about 18 years of age stood on the other end. He had blue dyed hair and wore a loose jacket and shorts. He wore bird training gauntlets on both hands. He looked confident; Ethan knew this would be a tough battle.

"Ethan Rider," Ethan announced, his voice sounding small in comparison. He stopped at the edge of the battlefield and breathed in deeply. Lyra and Emerald took a seat in the benches and watched the scene intently.

Falkner, for it had to be him, analyzed the young rookie, looking him up and down. "How many badges do you own?"

"None," Ethan replied, and internally winced. This was not making him feel any better.

Falkner nodded, and produced two poke balls from within his jacket. "This will be a two-on-two battle," said the Violet Gym Leader. "I will choose first. If you release a pokemon, you can't withdraw your pokemon unless it faints or is otherwise considered unable to battle. No items, no substitutions are allowed. Under no circumstances are either of us allowed to seriously injure the other's pokemon. Pokemon are our friends and should not be used as tools. Understand?"

"I do," said Ethan, exhaling and letting his training take over. Distancing himself from the stress, the anticipation.

"Before we begin," said the young man, producing a small remote from his pocket. "Let me make a few adjustments."

An incredibly loud grinding noise appeared out of nowhere, and Ethan winced as the lights dimmed and turned off. Espy's eyes flared and a pulse of annoyance and pain flickered through him. Psychics were very in tune with their senses and were sensitive to changes in volume and light. Were they going to fight in the dark?

His question was answered when the entire _ceiling_ began to open up into the endless sky. The roof retracted and folded into the adjacent walls, and the grinding finally stopped when the entire Gym was roofless. Ethan looked around in amazement as the entire scope of the battlefield had changed.

He looked back at Falkner, whose eyes now blazed with fire as he strode up to the field. "I am Falkner, the Violet City Pokemon Gym Leader!" the flying type prodigy announced. "People say you can clip a flying-type pokemon's wings with a jolt of electricity, but I won't allow such insults to bird Pokemon! I'll show you the real power of the magnificent bird Pokemon!"

Light flashed in front of Falkner as he released his first pokemon, a fierce-looking Pidgey which chirped and immediately took to the skies, circling above its trainer's head.

"You can do it, Ethan!" shouted Lyra from the stands.

Ethan turned his cap backwards. The bill would only obscure his vision and get in the way now. He released Tricky, who cackled as it was released and faced its opponent with a smile on its face.

"Begin!"

"Tricky, get him!" The ghost type grinned as it suddenly rushed towards the Pidgey. The pidgey cried out and shot into the faster, much, much faster than Phoenix. Tricky chased the bird type around for a few seconds before Falkner finally made a move.

"Pidgey, use gust!" The bird whirled around and began to flap its wings, buffeting the ghost as it struggled against the attack.

"Tricky, same thing as last time!" Ethan shouted. The ghost grinned and its eyes glowed red. As the pidgey turned its head to face the ghost, it was instantly locked into the ghost's stare. The winds died down as the bird type was pulled further into the hypnosis while Tricky floated closer and closer to the bird, its power increasing with proximity.

"Pidgey, snap out of it!" ordered Falkner, but it was too late. Pidgey didn't have latent psychic abilities like hoothoot and its line. It was a physical fighter, and they were vulnerable to mental attacks. Pidgey's eyes drifted closed and the bird fell to the ground, unconscious. Tricky levitated back in front of Ethan.

"Good job, Tricky," said Ethan. The ghost grinned back at him and waited for Falkner's next pokemon as the Gym Leader returned his first.

Falkner unclipped a pokeball from his belt and looked at it intently in his hands. Then he looked up at Ethan. The wind from outside began to pick up, and dust boiled across the battlefield with the sudden gust. Falkner grinned.

"It looks like the wind is finally with us!" he shouted as he released his last pokemon. A deeper, much louder chirp sounded as Pidgeotto was released into the sky. Ethan looked at it and gritted his teeth; he expected as much. The evolved bird was at least twice as big as pidgey and its talons were dangerously sharp as the bird soared through the air, a master of flying.

"Tricky, this one's going to be harder," said Ethan more quietly now. "Remember what we went over."

Tricky cackled. The ghost type levitated into the air and wheeled towards the massive bird at an angle. Pidgeotto looked at the ghost type with disdain as the gastly drew nearer.

"Pidgeotto, use gust. Full power."

Pidgeotto cawed and began to flap its wings, generating much more powerful winds than its previous form. Soon, a miniature tornado of dust and wind formed in front of the bird as it ensnared the ghost within its power. Tricky cried out as it was sucked into the vortex, unable to use its latent psychic abilities as it had the first time.

But Ethan knew this might happen, having learned from battling Ro. "Tricky, use Feint!"

The ghost type was silent as it was hurtled around the battlefield in the gust that Pidgeotto had created. A few seconds passed, and Ethan began to worry that the ghost hadn't heard him.

Then the vortex of wind turned purple, and his worry eased. The purple gas was whipped up by the wind and scattered all over the battlefield, mostly floating up into the sky, where Pidgeotto was floating. The big bird coughed and began to beat the smog away with its wings. To its side, the gas began to collect and reform into a solid mass.

Falkner noticed immediately. "Pidgeotto, it's behind you! Use wing attack!"

Pidgeotto swooped into the air and hurtled towards the reforming ghost at an incredible speed, crossing the length of the battlefield within two seconds. Ethan knew he only had one shot left. "Tricky, Astonish!"

The barely formed ghost immediately shrunk itself as Pidgeotto neared. When the bird had flown within a few feet, Tricky exploded outward, taking the wing attack directly into its body but expelling toxic gas everywhere. Ethan winced at the impact; even if Tricky was a ghost type, that had to have hurt. Pidgeotto's momentum easily carried the big bird through the attack and Ethan watched as it returned to its trainer's side, feathers unruffled but slightly darker than usual.

Tricky reformed in front of him and collapsed to the ground. It stuck its tongue at Pidgeotto once before finally fainting when Ethan returned him to his pokeball. It was fine. He had expected Tricky to lose to such a veteran fighter. What he really wanted to accomplish with the ghost type had been achieved, though.

Gastly had their ghost type abilities, but they also commanded poison type moves. Gastly and its kind were made up of a solid toxic gases solidified and weaved together with ghostly energy. They were dangerous as straight up fighters, but they could also be effective at indirect damage. Tricky had caused Pidgeotto to inhale dangerous amounts of toxic gas. Yesterday, Ethan had tasked the ghost with infecting Falkner's pokemon with poison and weakening them if the pokemon proved to be too powerful in a conventional fight. Judging from the slightly purple feathers of the pidgeotto and the dimmed eyes the big bird had now, as opposed to what they were at the beginning of the battle, Tricky had accomplished its job.

Now it was up to Espy.

The psychic type teleported onto the battlefield, the wind beginning to pick up as sand blew around her. She quickly drew up a psychic shield and blocked the scattering dirt.

Falkner looked at Pidgeotto, who looked a bit worse for the wear, and back at Ethan. His eyes flashed. "This is the final battle. Prepare yourself."

He turned to Pidgeotto. "Pidgeotto, take to the sky! Use Quick Wing!"

Pidgeotto cawed, the sound carrying across the Gym as the bird shot into the air, high above the battlefield. Pidgeotto immediately began to circle above Espy, a tactic Ethan recognized from watching Phoenix's battles. It was gathering momentum for its attack.

"Wait," said Ethan to Espy as the psychic watched the bird intently. The bird circled in the air for a few more seconds. Then it dove.

The figure of the bird practically blurred as it hurtled down towards Espy, who immediately teleported away just as the Pidgeotto reached her, its talons scraping nothing but dirt. Pidgeotto cawed and swooped around, immediately locating the psychic with its keen eyes and accelerating towards Espy again. Espy teleported, and Pidgeotto missed.

It was a battle of attrition. Ethan had tested Espy's endurance yesterday, and he was hoping the poison in Pidgeotto's system would slow it down and wear it down enough so that Espy could finish the bird. But it looked like the massive bird was still flying strong, and he knew Espy couldn't keep it up forever. Soon, Pidgeotto would be a hair faster, or Espy would be a hair slower to react, and the battle would be over.

So he thought of something else. "Espy, use Confusion!"

The psychic's eyes glowed bright blue and Pidgeotto halted suddenly in the air, trapped. Falkner raised an eyebrow as the Pidgeotto cawed and glared at the psychic. "Pidgeotto, break out."

The big bird cried out and easily broke Espy's psychic hold, rushing towards the abra instantly. Espy teleported away and soon the game was back on.

Ethan had blinked the moment the psychic prison had been broken. Nothing had ever shattered her grip on a pokemon like that. Tricky had escaped, but he was a ghost type. Pidgeotto had simply used its superior strength to break free of the bonds. This was going to complicate things.

He stared at the pidgeotto, his mind flashing back to the training they did. What strategies they developed. How to beat the flying type. A thought struck him as he remember the battle with Elder Li, how the man had talked about redirecting forces. _Use your opponent__'__s strength against them. _Then the idea hit him.

Espy teleported in front of him, and Ethan made his move. "Espy, hold it!"

The psychic type stopped its teleportation and watched as the pidgeotto made another circle and hurtled towards her. The psychic type sat there, absolutely still. Ethan felt something prod his mind and he knew that it was Espy, taking the strategy from his head. He recoiled at first at the touch of another mind, but he quickly relaxed as Espy read his mind. She knew what to do now.

Falkner's last pokemon jetted through the air, reaching over eighty miles per hour as it descended upon the abra. The bird was forty feet away. Then it was twenty feet away. Ten feet.

Five.

"Espy, now!" Ethan shouted, and Espy's eyes flashed as it teleported again. This time, it appeared directly on top of the flying type. The pidgeotto cried out at the unexpected weight and curved its wings to stop, but before the bird could begin to decelerate, Espy's eyes flashed again and both the psychic and the bird vanished.

"What?" said Falkner in complete confusion. Ethan watched with baited breath. It felt like an eternity had passed since the duo had teleported, but in a little corner of his mind he knew that only a couple of seconds had passed. Then Espy and Pidgeotto reappeared in the center of the battlefield.

Directly above the ground, with Pidgeotto aiming down.

Espy instantly teleported away the moment they had reappeared, but Pidgeotto's momentum carried it downward and the bird slammed into the ground at well over sixty miles per hour. A cloud of dirt exploded from the impact and Espy, who had teleported in front of Ethan, projected a psychic barrier to protect them from the sudden gust. All was silent as the dust cloud began to subside, and Ethan found that he couldn't breathe as he watched the scene.

Falkner looked at Ethan silently as the Pidgeotto revealed itself in the center of the field. The bird was lying flat on the ground, unmoving and absolutely unconscious. It had left a small crater from its impact, and its feathers were covered in brown dust. The Violet Gym Leader returned his pokemon and stared at the pokeball for a few seconds before returning his gaze to Ethan, who was still holding his breath.

"The battle is over. You have won."

Ethan exhaled and took a knee on the ground as Lyra began to cheer from the side. "That was awesome!" the girl cried out, and Emerald was doing her little hop again on the stands. Ethan felt a big smile grow on his face and he stood up, picking up Espy. "Espy, you're the best!" the young trainer exclaimed, and a general feeling of happiness echoed through him. This time, though, he heard something else as well.

_Yes._

Ethan stared at his pokemon for a few seconds before grinning stupidly. His pokemon had just spoken to him! It was only one word and it had an echoed and soft quality to it, but he had heard his abra's mental voice, only proving that the psychic was growing stronger. It had sounded like the voice of a young girl, evident of her age.

"Congratulations, Ethan," said Falkner, who had somehow appeared not two feet away from him. "You are a strong and capable trainer. Accept this badge from me. It is the Zephyr badge, proof that you have conquered the Violet City Gym."

Ethan took the small wing-shaped badge from Falkner's open palm and trembled as he pinned it to his jacket. If Ethan had his way, it would be the first of many.

"Thank you," said Ethan, looking up at the Gym Leader, who had begun to smile.

"I haven't had such a tense match in a while," admitted Falkner. "You used unconventional tactics and used your pokemon's natural abilities to their advantage. That says quite a lot about you. You'll succeed wherever your journey takes you, Ethan."

"Thanks," said Ethan again, and Falkner turned towards Lyra now. "I'm sorry, challenger. I would battle you right now, but I need to allow my pokemon to rest from the battle. If you could return tomorrow? I'd be thankful."

"No problem," said Lyra as she made her way towards them. Emerald hopped behind her, looking at the tall Gym Leader with wide eyes.

"I could use another day of training. It looks like I'm going to have to do a lot," Ethan's oldest friend laughed.

Falkner smiled. "Anyways, good match, Ethan." He turned to leave, but continued to speak. "Come back here one day when you've grown stronger, and we can battle again."

"Will do," Ethan promised the Gym Leader, and then he and Lyra were out the door.

Ethan looked at the badge on his jacket as he held it in place. The metal piece glinted in the afternoon light, as if it were winking at him. He gripped the Zephyr badge tightly in his palms as he looked up. Past the city, he could see the road to Azalea town on the edge of the city.

Tomorrow, Lyra would beat Falkner, take the badge, and they would be on their way to the next Gym. And then they would beat Bugsy, the next Gym Leader. Then they would move on to the next Gym, and so forth until they had completed the Gym Leader challenge. After that, they would enter the Indigo Conference, having fulfilled the eight gym badge requirement to take them past preliminary battling. The Conference was bi-annual and would take place at the Indigo Plateau in roughly fourteen months. That was how long he had until he needed to be ready.

Ethan stroked Espy's shoulder, who was still asleep on his back. He couldn't lose, not with his team at his side. He would win the Conference.

He would become Champion.

…

**What****'****d you think? Good? Bad? Eh? Leave a comment in the review section and let me know so that I can continue to improve my writing! Thanks.**


	2. The Return

**The Return**

…

**A/N: I****'****m so glad that this story****'****s already received so many positive responses! I****'****ve never tried my hand at a Pokemon fanfic before and it makes me feel all the more hopeful about what I have planned for this story. Now in response to some questions I received: I am in college and I am working on another story at the moment, so updates will likely take a month or so on average, if not more during the busiest times of the year. I****'****ve had a pretty busy holiday season, so I was slow getting this chapter out. As for how I will treat legendary pokemon in this story: they are legendary. I used to always laugh at how I could defeat the supposed gods of pokemon in the games with my starter pokemon. The legends aren****'****t omnipotent, but they are far above any mortal pokemon. And I intend to focus on the bonds between Ethan and his team; don****'****t worry about that. We****'****ll get into more detail this chapter. Okay, now that that****'****s over, on with the story!**

…

Ethan frowned. This was slightly unsettling.

He knew that Lyra was a skilled trainer. She was relied on pre-gamed strategies and tactics developed before the battle but she was never adverse to strategizing on her feet. She was a lot more methodical than he was when it came to battling and focused on finding her opponent's weaknesses, exploiting them.

He just didn't think that she was this good.

Lyra had Emerald and Phoenix, a grass type and a pidgey. Both were at a disadvantage when it came to battling Falkner. Ethan had had a few doubts when Lyra said she was ready the next day, but he went with her to support her regardless. As it turned out, she didn't need it.

Phoenix had been her first pokemon to go up against Falkner's pidgey. While Falkner's pidgey was definitely more experienced than her own, Lyra had noted that her pidgey was slightly faster than the Falkner's, so she had Phoenix run rings around the other pidgey while she attacked. Every time the other pidgey slowed down enough, Phoenix would strike and slow it down even more. The other pidgey had been beaten fast enough.

Then Pidgeotto had come out. Lyra had used Phoenix in much the same way Ethan had used Tricky: wear Pidgeotto down. The small bird had done its best to harass the larger bird and always kept it on the move, never letting Pidgeotto rest. The fight had lasted minutes, with Phoenix finally being struck down. But Pidgeotto had been tired out by then, and all that was left was Emerald, who had confidently stared the flying type down.

As soon as Pidgeotto had leapt into the air, Emerald had begun spraying poison powder and stun spore everywhere, covering the battlefield with it. Pidgeotto had then thrown up a gust that had blown the spores away and dove down to attack Emerald. The chikorita had fired off several razor leaves, all of which had hit Pidgeotto but had failed to do any damage. At least, not immediately. After Emerald had dodged the first attack, Pidgeotto had begun to flutter down to the ground, its movements erratic and stilted. Something was wrong. Ethan had thought that Pidgeotto was simply tired, but it turned out that it was _paralyzed_.

Emerald had laced her razor leaves with stun spore.

At that point, with Pidgeotto on the ground, Emerald had been able to trap it with more powder and spores and had lashed at it with its vines from afar. The battle was over in a minute or two.

Falkner was stunned, but not as stunned as Ethan had been.

Ethan watched as Lyra tossed the Zephyr badge up and down in her hand as they walked along route 32. "That was some really good battling out there, Lyra," said Ethan. He meant it.

"Thanks, Ethan," she said brightly. Chikorita barked from her usual position next to Lyra.

Ethan looked ahead. It was midday, since they had left more or less right after Lyra's gym battle, so there were trainers milling about on the most popular roads. But Lyra was itching to catch another pokemon to add to her team, so they were straying around the edges the route today, looking for pokemon in the brush.

Espy hummed in his mind from her spot on Ethan's shoulders, and he glanced around. "Sense something, Espy?" The quiet abra tended to remain asleep unless she detected something of interest, so it was worth noting that she was actually awake.

"Yeah, I think so too," said Lyra slowly as she scanned the edge of the woods, where the grass met a small lake next to the route. They exited the cover of the trees and looked down the lakeside, but there was nothing there.

"Oh, false alarm," said Lyra disappointedly.

Ethan's foot began to tap on the ground, and he quickly stopped the motion as soon as he noticed it. He knew what the cause was: it was a nice day today, and he wanted to battle. He glanced at Lyra, who was still looking for a certain pokemon in the grass.

"Hey, Lyra," he suddenly called out. "I'm going to check further in the woods to see if I find anything."

"Okay," she replied, though she was mostly focused on finding whatever it was that she was looking for. While Lyra was safely distracted, Ethan quietly slipped away into the woods and back onto the main road. Amusement bubbled in his mind and he tapped Espy on the forehead. His cap jerked down and he flipped it back up again. He smiled and looked around. He could see at least two trainers ahead of him on the road. Ethan grabbed his cab and twisted it all the way to back of his head. It was time to battle.

Espy teleported away just as a gout of flame washed over the space she had just occupied. The psychic's eyes glowed blue and Quilava sailed backwards, crashing into the rocky cliff adjacent to the road. The fire type slid to the ground and got to its feet, albeit more slowly this time.

"Quilava, use flame wheel!" the trainer ordered, and his quilava folded in on itself and erupted in a ball of flame. The fire wheel spun towards Espy and she quickly teleported right behind it.

"Espy, push it," said Ethan, and blue light surrounded Quilava, causing it to continue forward and crash through three trees in the wooded area before finally coming to a stop. The fire type struggled to its feet, but exhaustion set in and it collapsed, unable to continue the fight.

The trainer return Quilava and handed the money to Ethan, who pocketed his winnings after a quick exchange of "good battle" with the trainer. Espy teleported onto his shoulders again, which definitely drew some odd looks from the other trainers he passed by on the road, but Ethan didn't care. Espy was comfortable in that spot and preferred it to her pokeball. Besides, it wasn't like she could walk along the road with him. Abra generally remained in the same area during the early stages of their life and didn't start moving around until they were mature enough or evolved into Kadabra.

Ethan patted Espy's shoulder. "Okay, Espy, I'm going to let Tricky out to play now. I know you've got to be tired.

Espy's eyes dimmed as she returned to her sleep, but not before a voice echoed in his head.

_Thank you_.

Ethan grinned again; Espy had tried to begin using telepathy recently, but most of her attempts were limited to one to two word replies and still tended to have an ethereal quality to the voice. It would take some work, but they would get it right eventually.

Tricky appeared in the air and the gastly immediately began to explore the area, phasing through solid rock and trees as it inspected the route. Ethan sighed and waited a few seconds before calling the gastly back to him. "Okay, Tricky, you get to play now."

Tricky cackled and did a quick loop in the air. The ghost type turned around and looked for its opponents expectantly, though it made a confused expression at Ethan when the opposing pokemon remained nonexistent.

Ethan sighed. "We haven't even found another trainer yet, Tricky. I was just letting you out of your pokeball while we find one."

Tricky nodded in understanding and, before Ethan could stop him, zipped into the air as it went to go look for another trainer. Ethan couldn't suppress the urge to snort as he thought of the reaction the ghost type would get if it "found" another trainer.

"There you are."

Ethan turned around and Lyra was behind him, walking out of the woods. Instead of Emerald, who was usually walking beside the girl, there was a mareep instead. It looked like Lyra had found the pokemon she was looking for.

"I was looking for your pokemon," said Ethan, though a grin had begun to spread on his face as he said it. "But I…ah…got caught up with business as usual."

"You horrible liar," said Lyra, laughing. "Just admit that you didn't want to go looking for Nimbus here with me. Oh yeah, let me introduce you to him." She looked down at the mareep, who stared up at Ethan inquisitively. "Nimbus, this is Ethan. He's hardheaded and likes to run off without us, but he means well."

The mareep baaed at him. Ethan's lips quirked up. "Nice."

Lyra smiled and rubbed the mareep fondly on the back, prompting a content baa from the pokemon. "So what are you doing now? I thought you'd be in a battle when I found you." She looked around Ethan. "And I see Espy, but where's Tricky?"

"Well, Tricky and I were actually looking for a battle when—

Suddenly, there was a startled scream not too far from where they were. Ethan and Lyra took one look at each other and both burst out laughing, their laughter echoing through the woods.

As the day turned into evening and evening turned into dusk, Ethan and Lyra decided that it was about time to set up camp near the edge of the woods. Lyra secured the campsite and set up their things while Ethan collected wood for the campfire. They soon had a nice, warm fire crackling in a small makeshift fire pit by the time the evening chill set in.

Ethan sat in front of the campfire and watched the flames crackle, the only sound besides the occasional call of a wild pokemon in the distance. Lyra was silent as well, though she was lying on her back on her bedroll, looking at the stars above.

Espy and Tricky had both been let out of their poke balls. While Espy was content to sit next to Ethan and the fire, the gastly had wandered off into the dark woods, likely off to terrorize pokemon unfortunate enough to cross its path. Emerald was lying next to Lyra, nestled in the crook of her arm, and Phoenix was roosted on a branch of the nearest tree, contentedly asleep.

"Hey Ethan," said Lyra, breaking the silence.

"Yeah?" Ethan said back, turning around.

"How long have you had the dream of becoming a Pokemon Champion?"

Ethan blinked and sat up now, alert. He rubbed the sleepiness out of his eyes. "Since I saw Lance become Champion, when I was little. My mom and some of her friends took me to see the battle for Champion when Lance had beaten the Elite Four and challenged the last Champion. I guess I felt…inspired."

"How long do you think it'll take you?" Lyra asked. No doubt in her voice.

Ethan shrugged. "As long as it takes, I guess. Dreams aren't achieved in one day. They take a lot of time and effort."

"You're so deep for a twelve year old," Lyra teased lightly. "Life's not just about goals and dreams. Sometimes you just have to enjoy the moment, the journey."

"But would we even be having this conversation if I didn't dream of becoming Champion?"

Lyra paused. "You have a point."

Ethan sighed and just stared into the flames, watching them dance and crackle. "I don't know everything I want to do just yet. I know I want to travel and explore the world. I know I want to become the best Pokemon trainer. But I don't know what else. I guess I'll just figure that out along the way."

Lyra seemed satisfied with his answer and fell quiet again. Once Ethan figured she was asleep, he crawled into his own sleeping bag and laid back, looking up at the open sky. Out here, beyond the range of the city, he could see hundreds and hundreds of stars, all winking at him from their places in the vast night sky. Ethan had been camping before, and he definitely spent most of his time back home outside. But he had never slept outside before. Ethan found himself mesmerized by the sight.

Something warm touched the side of his face, and he glanced over at Espy, who had moved closer to him. He slowly stroked her back as he stared at the sky. "Dreams are kind of like stars in a way, Espy," said Ethan, his voice distant. "There are a million stars out there, just like there are a million dreams. Most people choose the closest and the brightest ones because they're the easiest to notice."

His eyes began to drift close. "But…I like the stars that are really far away. The ones that are really hard to notice unless you look close. The ones most people ignore because they're too hard to see. But I think…those are the ones…worth…looking for."

Ethan's eyes fell closed for the last time, and sleep claimed him.

…

It took them two weeks to reach Union Cave.

There were a couple of different paths along the route, each populated with other young trainers. Ethan and Lyra had decided to split up and meet later, on the basis that they would both get more experience this way. It was a good decision. Ethan had battled several trainers every day and crushed the more inexperienced trainers, most of whom had come out here to train for Falkner. Every now and then Ethan met a more seasoned trainer who had one or two badges that definitely took more effort but still weren't terribly hard to beat.

Ethan could tell Espy was getting closer to evolving. She was showing the signs: her tail lengthening, psychic power and abilities growing, and her mind-speech growing from one to two word bits to longer and longer phrases. She had almost no problem defeating pokemon like rattata and nidoran who mostly relied on physical attacks in battle. Pokemon with elemental abilities and speedy, mobile pokemon gave her the most trouble, though it simply meant that the battles were drawn out longer and she had to expend more energy. For now, they hadn't run into any trainers with ghost or dark type pokemon, though Ethan fully expected that to change along the course of their journey. As of now, Espy's only strategies consisted of teleporting to escape enemies, projecting a barrier to block attacks, and using confusion to trap and fling pokemon around. Once she evolved into a Kadabra, she would have more options available to her, but for now, Ethan and Espy had to keep training and relying on what they knew.

Tricky was doing as well as he'd expected. If Espy had no problem with pokemon with only physical abilities, then Tricky was on a completely different level. Most normal attacks fazed right through the gastly, where it would normally then poison them with debilitating amounts of toxic gas. It was fast, airborne, and unpredictable at times. Tricky was still on the fragile side of things; if an attack did somehow managed to land on him, then it would lose stamina and would maybe be able to last one or two more hits before the ghost type was defeated. Most ghost types weren't very tough, but Ethan knew that already. He wanted to focus on Tricky's strengths, mainly his mobility and unpredictability. It was these traits that made ghost types tricky to face and terrors on the battlefield.

Ethan met Lyra at the mouth of the cave that divided Route 31 and Azalea Town. He was hot, tired, and generally worn out but Union Cave was the only thing that stood between him and the next Gym. Even if the makeshift tunnel that cut through the sides of the mountain wasn't relatively short, he would have still journeyed into the cave. As it was, his legs burned from walking and hiking all day. But if they went through the cave now, they could still make it to town before dark.

"You ready?" said Lyra, looking as bright and confident as she had at the beginning of their journey from Violet City. Emerald barked from her usual spot at Lyra's right.

Espy was sitting on Ethan's shoulders. Although he was tired and sore, it wasn't as if Espy could move around very easily on her own unless she just teleported everywhere, which was a sure way of wasting her energy if she had to battle. Ethan wasn't ready to go in the cave just yet, as he was still digging around in his backpack for a certain item.

"Hang on," he muttered as his hands finally closed around the object. "Let me do this first."

Espy cocked her head as Ethan held up the TM case and transmitter in his hands. "Okay, Espy. I'm going to teach you Flash. I'll just have to put you in the pokeball first."

Espy hummed in his mind understandingly. Ethan returned her and held up the TM device to the pokeball. The pokeball's light glowed bright red and a faint light blue glow emitted from the top of the TM device as data streamed from the transmitter to the pokeball. The process continued for several seconds before the pokeball's light finally dimmed. The transmitter stopped humming and Ethan slid the device back into his backpack before releasing Espy once again.

Lyra watched curiously as Espy looked up at Ethan. "Okay Espy," said Ethan, a little unsure. "Use Flash."

Espy's eyes glowed bright blue as the abra held up shrouded arms. A split second later, a bright flash of light appeared from between her arms and briefly blinded everyone within ten feet, causing Ethan, Lyra, and Emerald to stumble back and shout in surprise. Ethan was wiping tears from his eyes as his vision slowly returned, albeit somewhat slowly.

"Did you really have to try that move now?" said Lyra, half angry and half amused. Emerald stumbled around dizzily as the grass type tried to reorient itself from the sudden flash of light.

"Better now than in the dark cave," said Ethan, blinking. He looked down at Espy, who hummed apologetically to him as he picked the psychic up and placed her on his shoulders. "It's okay, Espy. It's a new move. You'll get over it. Do you think you can control and direct it more?"

_Yes._

"Good."

Lyra shook her head one last time to clear the spots in her eyes. "Okay, now are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, let's do this," said Ethan, letting enthusiasm and vitality seep back into his voice. He looked up at the high cave ceiling, which towered over their heads. "And in we go."

Union Cave was dark. After spending so long outside, Ethan found himself blinking repeatedly to try to get his eyes adjusted to the dimness of the tunnel. Thin, long strips of lights were mounted on the ceiling, which was high enough so that it didn't make Ethan feel claustrophobic but low enough so that he still felt closed in. He resolved to get out of the tunnel as soon as possible.

Zubat fluttered around every now and then, having detected them with their sonar speech. Some floated closer, as if to get a better "view" of the travelers, but Espy's quickly erected barrier and flashing eyes kept them at a respectful distance. Not that Ethan was worried that he'd be attacked by wild pokemon here; Union Cave, or at least this portion of it, was well-travelled and constantly received traffic from Violet City and the surrounding woods. In addition, it was also inhabited by generally weaker pokemon, due to the relative stability of its area in the Johto Region, and thus was a good place for rookie trainers to train and catch pokemon.

Tricky was, as expected, having a great time. The gastly floated around the two trainers as it reveled in the darkness of the cave. Ethan thought about recalling Tricky every time the ghost type floated far away enough to be out of sight, but decided that, if his map was right, there weren't going to be many cave routes in the near future and he might as well let the ghost enjoy its time.

"This is weird; I thought there'd be more trainers here," said Lyra curiously, completely unfazed by the cave. "I mean, it is a popular route for trainers."

Ethan glanced around. The cave was eerily empty, with only a few wild pokemon hanging around the edges of the corridors. Then again, if they were in any danger, Espy would probably warn him. They rounded a corner, which opened into a much larger room, with higher ceilings and more open space. Stalactites hung from the ceiling, dripping beads of water into the ponds around them. Ethan could even see the entrance from where he stood, where the daytime light cast shadows on an opposing wall.

Yet there were still no trainers. Ethan frowned; he'd have expected to see at least one. "Espy, you sense anything?" The abra's eyes flashed a light blue, and the psychic shook her head.

_No._

"Weird," Ethan muttering, and looked at the ceiling. "Tricky, come down now."

Several seconds passed, but the ghost type finally appeared in front of them, giggling and chuckling at some joke only it knew. Tricky drifted closer towards Espy to play its usual pranks, but Ethan cut him off with a look. "Tricky, can you kind of check around the area? It shouldn't be this empty in here."

Tricky nodded, and stuck its tongue out at him, which, at this point, seemed more like an affirmative than a spiteful gesture. The gastly floated up into the air and quickly disappeared in the shadows.

The two kept walking, though Ethan was definitely keeping an eye on his surroundings as they passed through the cave. The air was tense, and he found himself talking to keep up the mood. "How's the egg?"

"It's okay," Lyra replied after a moment, her voice somewhat distant. "It won't be evolving a while, I bet. Pokemon eggs typically take a month or two to hatch, and Mr. Pokemon had probably only held onto the egg for a week when we got it from him. After a long day, I kind of wish the egg would hatch already. It's kind of heavy."

"Still haven't looked it up to see what kind of pokemon egg it is?" said Ethan. On his shoulders, Espy was flared up, inspecting the environment with her psychic senses. On the ground next to them, Emerald was trotting along next to Lyra, though the short grass type was tense as well, and cast furtive looks around them.

"I'm not going to ruin the surprise. I told you; it's part of being a trainer."

"But don't you ever just want to know?"

"That's not the point. I'll be patient and wait for it when the time is right."

"You sound like Professor Elm."

"Since he's the authority on Pokemon breeding and evolutionary theory, I'll take that as a compliment."

"If—

Espy prodded his mind, and he looked up at the psychic. Her eyes were glowing bright blue, and her arm was pointed towards the right. Ethan looked down and to the side, following her arm until his eyes rested on a discreet opening tucked into the wall towards the corner of the cavern.

"I'm going to check this out," said Ethan, walking towards the opening. He could hear Lyra following behind him, though at a slower and more cautious pace. He ducked his head into the opening; it was another passageway, with a lowered ceiling like the first one they had entered.

Except he could hear voices in this one. They were relatively quiet, and mostly came off as hollow and echoey, but they were clearly voices. He started walking through the passageway, navigating turns and bends in the path, and as he did, the voices became clearer and more distinct.

"—s stupid."

"—understand why you want to ke—"

"—on a tv—"

"It seemed like a good idea at the time, okay? Stupid, useless pokemon."

Ethan frowned as the voices grew louder and louder until the volume reached conversational level. He paused at one particular round in the passageway and snuck a glance around the corner.

It was a relatively small space, around a fourth of the size of the previous cavern. Two men in dark clothing stood towards the far end, accompanied by a single floating magnemite. One of them looked bored; the other glared down at the ground with a furious expression on his face. Upon closer inspection, Ethan could see a small pink figure on the ground. After a few seconds, he realized it was a clefairy.

The magnemite spat out a thin bolt of electricity, striking the clefairy on the ground. The pokemon cried out at the sudden shock, and one of the men snorted. "It's a joke; you'll never get to it to do anything."

"I remember Jorge having a Clefairy," said the other man defensively.

"Jorge is even lower ranked than us. That's probably why."

"Maybe you're right."

"They're abusing that Clefairy!" Lyra whispered from behind Ethan. He could barely discern her voice as he listened to the conversation with growing anger, simmering just beneath the surface of his forced calm. He could feel Espy's emotions leaking from her own mind, and for once, he didn't notice a difference.

"Everyone is prepping for the op, and you're just in this cave trying to train that dumb Clefairy."

"Yeesh, all right," said the other man, rubbing the back of his head. "Magnemite, cut it."

The magnemite ceased its repeated shocks and buzzed closer to the man's head. He looked down at the mewling pokemon and simply shrugged. "Guess I can take it back to HQ instead and have the psychics take a look at it. I heard they can usually turn them around."

"That still doesn't fix—

Ethan didn't even remember stepping out from behind the rock wall. Espy teleported in front of him, her eyes glowing furiously. One of the grunts noticed the movement and turned his head towards him.

"What? Bruce, I thought we already scared all the trainers from the cave," said the first man, frowning.

Bruce looked over. "Oh yeah, thought we did. Kid, beat it."

Ethan didn't budge. Lyra appeared from behind Ethan now, and her Chikorita stood next to her, growling at the dark-clothed men. "You're going to let that Clefairy go," said Ethan quietly.

Bruce snorted. "Oh, look, kid brought a friend."

"Hey, wait," said the other man, frowning as he looked carefully at Lyra and Emerald now. "That's a pretty rare pokemon. Command always has a high bounty on pokes like those."

"That tiny thing?" said Bruce, chuckling.

A bright light flashed in front of the other man. A screech accompanied the sudden light, and a zubat swooped into the air, hovering next to the man's head and baring its fangs, unusually fierce compared to the ones Ethan had seen on their way here. "Yeah, it's a chikorita," said the man, looking at Emerald, who continued to growl at them. "Pretty valuable."

"That settles it then," said Bruce, and he turned to face the two rookies. His magnemite hung close to his head. "Hand over the cute pokemon, girly. I don't like hurting kids. Well, not all the time."

"Espy, use Confusion!" Ethan shouted, and the psychic's body flared once before firing a shimmering wave of blue energy at the magnemite, which slammed into the rock wall but levitated off, seemingly undamaged.

"Magnemite, use thundershock on that abra." The magnemite fired off a bolt of electricity that crashed into the barrier Espy had just projected. Her eyes flashed and the magnemite was thrown back again, though it quickly floated back to its previous position in front of its trainer.

_My attacks aren__'__t doing anything to it. It__'__s a steel type; its armor is resistant to psychic attacks. _Ethan looked over to Lyra and was about to tell her to get Emerald to attack Magnemite when he saw the zubat hurtling through the air towards the grass type. Emerald flung several razor leaves towards the zubat and swung its main leaf around itself, cloaking the air around it with bright yellow spores. The bat pokemon weathered the leaves with no trouble and flew around the spore cloud, looking for a clear way to enter.

A flash of light sparked next to him, and Ethan returned his attention to his own fight. Magnemite was keeping a steady stream of electricity sparking against Espy's barriers, which were slowly but surely faltering. She couldn't teleport away, for fear of allowing the thundershock to hit Emerald or the two humans behind her. Ethan gritted his teeth.

The magnemite suddenly froze and halted its attack. Espy let down her barrier in exhaustion during the brief break in fire. "What's wrong with you?" Bruce snarled at his still pokemon. "Attack it!"

The magnemite shuddered and slowly descended to the ground, shaking. A second later, a familiar purple shape materialized in mid-air and stuck its long pink tongue at the two men. Ethan breathed a sigh of relief; it looked like Tricky had finally found them, albeit a little close for comfort.

Espy turned towards the fight raging next to her now and launched a flurry of blue at the zubat, catching it in mid flight. Emerald's vines sprung out and quickly ensnared the poison type, drawing it into the spore cloud and taking it out of the fight as it was quickly paralyzed.

"Stupid pokemon," the other man snarled as he quickly returned his zubat. The magnemite slowly floated into the air next to its trainer, the light in its eye dim. Even as the men turned to run and Ethan was preparing to order Espy to subdue them, the magnemite rose high into the air and one word echoed in the confined space.

"Flash!" The small room was quickly flooded with light as the magnemite released a flash of light much brighter than what Espy could produce. Ethan shouted and stumbled back into the rock wall, scraping his exposed elbows, but he couldn't see anything. Could barely hear anything. Espy's panic lashed across his mind and his hand somehow found the psychic, gripping her shoulder tightly. The pressure beneath his fingers vanished and a familiar weight appeared on his shoulders.

When the din in his ears and the spots in his eyes finally disappeared, Ethan opened his eyes. The dark clothed men were gone. Ethan pounded his hand against the wall in frustration, but Lyra's voice quickly took him out of it.

"They left the clefairy!" Ethan's head snapped towards the still form of the fairy type on the ground, and he ran forward and scooped the pokemon into his arms. It was about a foot tall but was surprisingly light as he held the clefairy in place. The fairy type was unconscious, and numerous burn marks dotted its light pink skin. Ethan wanted to chase after the men who had abused this clefairy, but the pokemon was hurt. They had to take the clefairy to the pokemon center as soon as possible.

"You remember the way out?" Ethan asked, turning to Lyra now.

"Yeah. Let's get to town." His old friend was already running through the room entrance, and he followed her out.

…

"Mr. Rider?"

"Yes?" Ethan sat up as Nurse Joy entered the room. A tall blue-haired woman wearing a dark uniform followed closely behind her.

"Your clefairy will be fine," said the cheerful red-headed nurse. "She has a number of burns and bruises, but most of the damage is superficial. She will make a full recovery in a few hours."

"Thanks, Nurse Joy," said Ethan. Espy hummed contentedly from her position on the bed next to him and Ethan scratched behind her head.

Nurse Joy nodded, then hesitated a little. "Okay. Now I understand that Clefairy isn't your pokemon, but belongs to one of the two men you encountered."

Ethan's jaw unconsciously clenched. "Yeah."

The nurse nodded again. "There usually is a process that comes with unregistering and releasing a pokemon, but I think that, under these circumstances, that process can be waived. Officially, Clefairy will be registered with you. Is that okay?"

Ethan internally released a breath he didn't know he had been holding. "Yeah, sure. I don't mind at all."

Nurse Joy smiled. "That's very good to hear."

She glanced behind her, where Ethan could hear the sound of footsteps and muffled voices. "Mr. Rider, I know it's late and you must be tired, but Officer Jennifer here has some questions that you need to answer."

"It's not an issue," Ethan replied. "I'll answer any questions that she has for me."

Nurse Joy turned towards the uniformed woman, who nodded before stepping towards Ethan. The nurse slipped outside and shut the door as Officer Jennifer stood in front of Ethan with a clipboard in hand.

"Okay, Ethan," said the officer, looking between her clipboard and the young trainer. "Your friend Lyra has already given us a description of the two men you ran into, but since you were there as well, I have to ask some routine questions."

Ethan nodded and gave the woman a rough description of the encounter, though he knew that his description of the event was shaky at best and didn't exactly help her. To her credit, Officer Jennifer seemed to be intently paying attention to his words and jotted down several notes over the course of his testimony. As he finished, Officer Jennifer skimmed over her notes and began asking him other questions.

"Did they mention anything else about what they were doing in Union Cave?" asked the officer.

Ethan skimmed over the events in his head. "Not that I can remember. Just that they cleared out the cave of other trainers."

Officer Jennifer nodded. "And they were going to steal your friend's pokemon?"

"Yeah," said Ethan, clenching his fists. He remembered that part well. "They said that there was a high bounty on rare pokemon like Emerald."

The officer jotted down more notes. After a moment, she let the clipboard fall to her side as she tapped something into her phone. "Okay, I'll be filing this report back at the station now, but you can be rest assured that we will continue looking into this."

Ethan shook her outstretched hand. "Thank you."

Officer Jennifer nodded and left the room. Ethan flopped on his bed, suddenly feeling exhausted. He almost thought about trying to find the two men on his own, but then decided that it was late and the police were already looking into the matter now. He would deal with the situation in the morning.

Ethan grinned sleepily. Tomorrow was the day that he would try to challenge Azalea Town's Gym. He had been training for weeks now and he felt that he at least had a decent shot at winning. Granted, he had a decent shot as long as "Bugsy" the gym leader didn't use his full team, but Ethan didn't think that the Gym leader would use his personal pokemon against a rookie like him. Still, it was best that he be prepared anyways and do his research before challenging the Gym leader.

Ethan yawned. _Well, maybe tomorrow._

In the morning, Ethan met Lyra in front of the pokemon center. "Ready to go face Bugsy?" said Lyra, bright and chipper as always.

"Let's hope so," Ethan breathed, and they made their way across town. Unlike Violet City, Azalea Town was much smaller and more compact, a result of the city having nested in the narrow space between Union Cave and Ilex Forest. Buildings hugged cliff edges and wooded areas and Ethan could see pokemon flitting around just on the outskirts of the town. Finding the Azalea Gym was a much easier task than finding the Violet Gym, and in no time they stood before the domed Gym.

The Azalea Gym was peculiarly shaped. The building's sides were rounded off like a dome but connected to each other with a flat rooftop. Long windows above the door provided light inside the building, and the building was made up of earthy colors, ranging from browns to reds to yellows. Fittingly enough, it reminded Ethan of a bug.

Ethan grasped the door handle and pulled but was surprised when his arm jerked back and the door refused to open. He glanced at Lyra, who shrugged.

"Uh, is the Gym not even open?" said Ethan, confused.

"Oh, Bugsy isn't here today."

Ethan and Lyra whirled around. An old man in a tan shirt and dark brown pants sauntered up behind them, looking at the Azalea Gym. He had a pleasant expression on his face as he regarded the two young trainers.

"If you couldn't tell, the entire town is a buzz," said the old man, gesturing behind them. Ethan looked around; despite the nice weather and time of day, most of the people he could see were clustered around the buildings, talking to each other quietly. The people that were walking through the streets were mostly police officers, including Officer Jennifer, who stood with another officer facing the Ilex Forest entrance.

"What's going on?" Lyra asked.

"Apparently there was a note sent to the police station sometime last night," said the old man, looking towards the forest. "Said that Azalea Town's nothing but a bug-infested hick town and that the whole place would burn, starting with the Ilex Forest. Now normally the police would handle the situation, but it looks like Bugsy took the letter pretty seriously, since he's out and about in the Ilex Forest right now. The police are patrolling the town as a precaution."

"Wow," said Lyra.

"Yeah," said Ethan, frowning. While he really wanted to battle Bugsy today, it was a serious situation and he could understand why the Gym Leader was out. In any case, he could take the time to train more. "Hey, Lyra, since Bugsy's not in today, I'm heading out to train in the woods. I guess I can battle him tomorrow."

"You want to train together?" said Lyra, releasing Emerald. The grass type barked once before nuzzling her head against Lyra's outstretched hand.

"Nah," said Ethan, patting Espy's shoulder, who was still asleep (or looked like she was). "I've got some strategies I've got to go over with Espy and Tricky. Can't let you know everything, can I?"

Lyra laughed. "Fine, go practice your super secret strategies. I'll be dying of curiosity over here."

"See ya."

"Bye."

Ethan stopped just outside the town, in a grassy clearing much like the one near Violet City. In a flash, Tricky and Espy appeared before him. The ghost type turned towards Espy and immediately began to torment the psychic, but stopped once Ethan cut it off with a look.

Espy was growing fast, considering that Ethan had only begun his career as a trainer roughly four weeks ago. Espy could now speak to him in complete sentences, though only in bursts. Still, a great deal of her potential power could only be unlocked when she evolved into a Kadabra, which Ethan knew he couldn't do anything about but still chafed at him. It felt as if he could train with her endlessly but nothing would be accomplished until she evolved. That didn't deter him from trying, though.

Ethan looked down at the third pokeball in his hands. _I guess that since I have some down time, now__'__s as a good as any time. _"Okay, guys," said Ethan, capturing both pokemon's attention. "I'm going to release Clefairy now. Remember that she used to belong to those two guys that we ran into, so she might be a bit shy when I release her. Try not to scare her or anything. Basically, Tricky, that means you."

The ghost type frowned slightly but grudgingly nodded. Ethan tapped the release button on the pokeball and a bright flash of light illuminated the small clearing. Once Ethan had blinked away the spots in his eyes, he looked down at the pokemon before him.

The clefairy was small, around a foot and a half tall, but still taller and bigger than Espy. Its soft pink skin was unmarked, showing no evidence of the abuse it had endured yesterday, and it looked healthy for the most part. The clefairy looked around for a second, overcoming the brief disorientation from being released, and its gaze fixed on his own. Their eyes locked together for a brief moment before the clefairy began to back up, its expression turning frightened.

"Hey, wait a second," said Ethan, crouching down to the clefairy's level. The fairy type seemed a bit less shy now that he was at a much lesser height. "It's okay; I'm not going to hurt you like your previous trainers. You don't have to worry about them anymore."

The clefairy cocked its head at him, curious now. "I'm actually a trainer myself. I'm training to become the best trainer in the world, and my two friends here are training with me."

He gestured at the two pokemon behind him. "That's Espy, and that's Tricky." The psychic type's eyes flashed and she inclined her head towards the clefairy, who shyly waved at Espy. Tricky stuck its tongue out at the fairy type and spun vertically once in the air. Clefairy glanced to the side—the fairy type didn't seem to like Tricky much, no surprise there.

Clefairy turned back to Ethan once he began to speak again. "Would you like to join me on my journey?"

The fairy type seemed to ponder the idea for a few seconds. Then, it slowly nodded, a smile beginning to grow on its mouth.

"Awesome," said Ethan, smiling as well. He stood up, and Clefairy looked startled for a second; it seemed to have forgotten that he was actually much taller. "Okay, I'm going to scan you for a second."

Ethan pulled out the pokedex from his backpack and aimed the small device at clefairy. After the small red beam had scanned the pokemon, Dexter's voice began to emit from the pokedex. "_Clefairy, the fairy pokemon. Female. The moonlight that it stores in the wings on its back apparently gives it the ability to float in midair. This clefairy knows the moves pound, disarming voice, and misty terrain. Its ability is Magic Guard, which prevents indirect damage from weather conditions, poison, burns, certain ghost type attacks, and other environmental effects._"

Ethan looked up from his pokedex and down at the clefairy, which had begun to wander around the clearing. Tricky was following the fairy closely behind her back, though Ethan doubted that Clefairy knew that the ghost was there. "Clefairy, come over here."

The fairy type squeaked once and leapt towards Ethan in one fairy-energy assisted bound. Ethan blinked. "Okay, do you want a nickname?"

Clefairy nodded.

"Okay, let me think. Hm." This one took much longer than choosing Espy and Tricky's names. Both trainer and pokemon thought Moony was unimaginative and unfitting. Mystic didn't work either. After combing through a couple more names, they finally hit one that they both liked.

Dancer bounced back and forth as Ethan registered her on his team. Once he finished, he looked at his team, now three pokemon: Espy, Tricky, and Dancer.

"Okay, we're going to start training for tomorrow's battle," said Ethan. "But first we're going to see what Dancer can do. Tricky, do you mind waiting it out in your pokeball while we do it? It might take a bit."

Tricky stuck its tongue out at Ethan. He sighed. "Tricky, the faster we do this, the faster I'll work with you. Then I'll see if you can learn this new move I looked up. It looks good."

The gastly grinned and nodded. Ethan returned it, sliding the pokeball into his belt. "Okay, Dancer, time to show us—

"Help!"

The voice came from behind Ethan, and he quickly turned around. An old man dressed in dark robes stood at the edge of the clearing, worry and panic mixed in his expression. He began to hobble over to where Ethan, but the young trainer quickly ran over to the old man instead.

"What's wrong?" said Ethan. Espy teleported onto his shoulders and cocked her head at him.

"It's the Slowpoke Well!" said the old man, his words almost spilling over each other as he spoke. "A group of people dressed in black broke into the Well's entrance a few minutes ago and forced everyone out! They said they were going to steal every last slowpoke there and cut their tails off! Bugsy and the police are occupied in the Ilex Forest and they can't help. You're a trainer, right? You have to help them!"

Ethan stared at the old man, quickly absorbing the situation. Then he nodded, and Espy hummed in agreement in his mind. "Where is it?"

Minutes later, Ethan stood at the top of Slowpoke Well, looking down into the dark staircase just barely lit by wall lanterns dotting the passageway down. Espy hummed her readiness, and Dancer cried out from her position at his side. Ethan took one deep breath and began to descend the staircase.

The descent was long. For maybe half of a minute, Ethan could hear nothing but the sound of his own breathing and his footsteps as he made his way into Slowpoke Well. The lighting was decent, but some of the lanterns had been smashed by someone and lay in pieces on the steps. Ethan had to watch his footing on the way down. Dancer simply leapt from step to step, regardless of distance or height, held aloft by her wings and stored energy. The fairy type was utterly unaware of what they were about to walk into, and Ethan almost chuckled as Dancer giggled and leapt on the stone railing this time instead of the steps.

Soon, Ethan could hear another sound in the background: voices. Ethan slowed his descent slightly and listened carefully to them. After a few moments, he shook his head and gave up; the voices were too distorted by echoes to understand what was being said. He continued down the stairs.

At the last step, one voice, much louder than the rest, caught Ethan's attention. It sounded _very_ close. "This is ridiculous. Why are we even here? The gym leader and all of the police are out chasing "bombs" in Ilex Forest."

A derisive chuckle. "I dunno. Boss's orders. If you want to take it up with him, go right ahead."

A snort. "Yeah. I do that, and I'll end up like the Slowpoke."

"Hey, make fun of them all you want, but their tails are going to make us rich."

Ethan snuck a peek around the corner. Two men were standing in the mouth of a large tunnel, wearing the same clothing as the two men he had seen yesterday in Union Cave. The only difference was that the backs of their shirts were embroidered with a single, large red "R". Ethan's mouth went dry. He knew exactly who they were now.

Team Rocket.

The criminal organization was infamous across multiple regions. It had sprung up in Kanto decades ago and had spread its influence into Johto soon after it had gained prominence in its home region. Team Rocket mainly dealt with illegal pokemon trafficking and was notorious for its brutality towards people and pokemon alike. It had suffered setbacks and fallen from the public eye years ago when a powerful trainer in the Kanto region had taken to shutting the organization down, but Team Rocket had never been confirmed to be disbanded.

And they definitely weren't now.

Ethan's hands curled into fists. He wouldn't let Team Rocket spread across his home region, not if he had anything to say about it. Espy hummed in his mind, her "mental voice" colored with reds and blacks.

_Yes._

"Knock them out," Ethan whispered, and Espy complied. Pokemon were tough; they had to be, in order to withstand the devastating attacks fully mature pokemon and natural dangers. The weakest pokemon could be a match for a human. So the two Rockets stood no chance as they were caught by surprise. Blue light lanced across the short distance between him and the Rockets and struck the two men, both of whom froze for a second before crumpling to the ground.

Dancer peeked out from behind Ethan's leg. Ethan glanced down; the normally bright expression on the clefairy's face was now mixed with fear and apprehension, and he petted her head.

"It's okay," said Ethan, looking up now. "They won't hurt you."

Dancer squeaked back. Ethan left the cover of the staircase and advanced down the hallway now, looking around for any hint of Team Rocket. He barely made it halfway across when a pair of men walked around the corner and froze at the sight of him.

"What the—

"Why is there a kid down here?"

Ethan didn't even have to say anything. Both men froze and fell to the ground as Espy enveloped them with her psychic aura. Ethan ran forward as fast as he could without knocking Espy off her perch on his shoulders. With four of their men down, someone surely would have noticed their absence. He rounded the corner and suddenly stopped.

The room was enormous, as large as the open cavern in Union Cave. Ethan noticed several strangely flattened rocks around the cave and realized that those must have been where the slowpoke rested. A single pool of water sat in the middle of the cave. And next to it, a group of slowpoke.

Except the slowpoke were all piled into each other, each wearing a dazed, more so than usual, expression on its face. And there were Team Rocket members all over the cave, with three alone standing next to the slowpoke. Ethan did a quick mental count of the people, which summed up to eight. Eight Team Rocket members against one rookie trainer. Ethan frowned and began to step back. Maybe it was time for him to call for help.

"Hey!"

Ethan started at the sudden shout and looked around wildly, homing in on the voice. A single Rocket member was standing ten feet away from him, looking at him in consternation. A koffing floated next to his head, looking at him with a dazed, absent expression on its face.

"Espy, confusion!" said Ethan, and Espy raised an arm towards the trainer and pokemon. The koffing floated in front of the Rocket just as the attack hit, knocking both of them to the ground.

The small scuffle had attracted attention. Shouts and yells echoed across the cave as Team Rocket realized that there was an intruder at the mouth of the cave. Ethan's mind raced as he looked down at Dancer, who was still hanging near his leg. An idea struck him.

"Dancer, use disarming voice!" The clefairy looked up and smiled at him before leaping out towards the edge of the cliff overlooking the rest of the cave. Took a deep breath and cried out. The fairy energy-assisted shout boomed across the room and bounced around the confined space, driving some of the Rockets to the ground and disorienting the rest. A flash of light appeared next to Ethan as Tricky was released.

As Ethan began to make his way down to the floor of the cave, two Rockets skidded to a stop in front of him. "You just bought yourself a world of trouble, kid," one of them snarled as he released his own pokemon, a koffing. The second Rocket released a Zubat. "Get him!"

The koffing puffed noxious gas into the air and ponderously floated towards Ethan. The zubat shrieked and took to the air before diving down towards him.

"Espy, confusion! Tricky, knock the koffing out!" Espy waved her arm and launched a wave of psychic energy rippling through the air, easily catching the zubat mid-flight and knocking it out of the air. The koffing slowly floated towards Ethan as it groaned and breathed noxious gas from its mouth. A second later, the koffing's shadow writhed and materialized into a rough sphere shape as Tricky extended its long tongue and licked the poison type from behind. Koffing shuddered and descended towards the ground before hitting the dirt floor with a _thump_.

"Knock him out, Espy," said Ethan, and the abra hit the first Rocket squarely in the chest with a pulse of psychic aura before the man could react. The second Rocket suddenly froze and crumpled to the ground as Tricky appeared behind him, cackling.

A high-pitched cry echoed behind him, and Ethan turned around to see Dancer facing off against a mean-looking ekans. The clefairy had surrounded itself in a pink mist that almost completely obscured its figure, and the snake was slithering around the mist warily. Its trainer stood behind him, shouting at it. "What are you doing? Just get in there and take it down!"

"Espy!" Ethan shouted just as Ekans gathered its courage and shot towards Dancer. It froze mid-dash as psychic energy ensnared its body and continued to assault it until the poison type finally fell unconscious. Its trainer turned to run, but Espy easily caught him with her psychic grip and knocked him out.

Ethan looked down towards the pool again. One of the Rockets was attempting to lug a Slowpoke away on its back, and Espy quickly raised an arm and held the man in place until he fell unconscious.

"Well, what do we have here?"

Ethan turned around. A man with blue dyed hair and a much more decorative uniform stood in front of the mouth of the cave. Red stripes adorned the sleeves of his jacket and a single silver "R" was emblazoned over the right side of his shirt. His expression was cruel and haughty as he regarded the young trainer before him.

"So a young little brat wants to be the hero and stop the evil Team Rocket," the Rocket chuckled. Ethan's fist clenched together but he didn't say anything as the man continued to speak. Espy's eyes were glowing furiously blue as she prepared to attack.

"This isn't some fairy tale where the stupid child beats all the bad guys and saves the day," said the man, and the chuckling stopped as he suddenly stared into Ethan's eyes. The man's eyes were unsettlingly cold and empty, and Ethan fought with himself to continue looking into the man's dead eyes. "I am Executive Proton. I will not be beaten by a brat like you."

Before Ethan could react, a flash of white appeared in front of Proton and materialized into the form of a pokemon. A large, blue-furred creature with nightmarishly large fangs stood in front of the Executive, barely reaching the man's waist. The Golbat bared its teeth and shrieked once as it regarded the collection of pokemon in its gaze, staring each of them with hungry eyes.

"It's a shame that I only brought one of my pokemon with me," Executive Proton mused. "But it will be more than enough to defeat you. Golbat, deal with his pokemon. Then, kill the boy."

Cold shock speared through Ethan, but he quickly marshaled his thoughts. "Espy, use Confusion!"

Espy released the psychic attack she had been holding and shot it towards the golbat. Proton deftly stepped out of the way and Golbat shot into the air, merely a bluish blur in Ethan's vision. Ethan looked around wildly, but he couldn't track the golbat. It was just too fast. A bad thought hit him and he shouted, "Espy, use Barrier!"

A faint yellow barrier appeared over their heads. As soon as it had appeared, the golbat crashed into the psychic construct with enormous force, casting ripples across the barrier. Before they could react, the poison type leapt into the air again and disappeared.

Ethan grimaced. Golbat were fast and strong, much more so than their previous forms. They held lethal amounts of poison in their fangs that could knock out a pokemon in seconds and outright kill a human. They weren't as vulnerable to sunlight as Zubat but would definitely still be annoyed if they were exposed to the sun. They also weren't very tough and could only take so many hits, but they were very, very fast. It would take a miracle to hit the golbat. But Ethan wasn't going to let this Rocket get away with his crimes. Not if he had anything to say about it.

"Espy," said Ethan. "Try to feel for golbat's mind and see if you can home in on it. Tricky, stick to the shadows and try to surprise it. Dancer, use disarming voice!"

The newest member of Ethan's team smiled as it strode in front of him and cried out with an energy-assisted shout, the sound cracking across the small cave and leaving Ethan's ears ringing. Golbat shrieked and appeared near the ceiling, disoriented by the loud noise. "Espy, use Confusion!"

"Dodge it, Golbat!" The Rocket executive snarled. "And use Wing Attack!"

A wave of psychic energy shot towards the golbat. The bat hissed and dove out of the way before turning its evading move into an attack as it slammed a shining wing into Espy's barrier. The psychic shield shattered, and, before Ethan could react, the Golbat had reared back and swiped its other wing towards him.

_Smack_! Ethan blinked as Golbat's wing struck Dancer, who had leapt in front of him the moment the fairy type had realized the danger. The clefairy cried out as it was sent flying to the ground, where she slid several meters before coming to a stop. _Dancer!_

The golbat hissed and was suddenly frozen in psychic energy. Espy had trapped it, and the psychic type was furious as her eyes glowed bright blue, slowly crushing the bat with her psychic grip. The golbat's shadow rippled and Tricky quickly rose out from behind the poison type, ensnaring the bat with its body.

Ethan's voice was flat as he spoke. "Knock it out."

Tricky grinned maliciously as the ghost type wrapped a long tongue around the bat's body and constricted the pokemon. Between Espy's Confusion and Tricky's grip, the golbat was unconscious in seconds. The bat collapsed on the ground and didn't get up again.

A red beam of light returned the pokemon to its pokeball, and Ethan looked up to see Proton releasing another pokemon, a koffing. The executive was staring at Golbat's pokeball in consternation, and he roughly shoved the ball back into his jacket.

"Beaten by a brat like you," the Proton sneered. "It looks like I'll have to get rid of this useless Golbat soon."

The executive suddenly clenched his right hang into a fist, holding it towards Ethan. "Team Rocket has risen up after three years of disrepair and decay. We will not be stopped this time. Not by the League, not by little boys like you, not by anyone."

The koffing coughed as it floated towards Ethan, who readied himself for another battle. Proton sneered at him one last time before suddenly breaking into a run, making for the exit behind him. Ethan blinked once before turning to Espy. "Espy—

"Use explosion!" The koffing suddenly sucked in the surrounding gases into its body and began to glow bright white. Ethan took one step back and a faint yellow sheen appeared in his vision just as the koffing reached the critical point and exploded. Ethan's vision turned white and the force of the attack sent him flying back and tumbling across the ground. The pain didn't even register in his mind as darkness began to creep in from the edges of his vision. He could vaguely hear the sound of footsteps in the distance.

Then he blacked out.

…

Something bright shined in his eyes, and Ethan woke up.

He squinted at the sudden brightness, and the light quickly dimmed to an acceptable level. Sounds he had dismissed as background noise quickly turned into recognizable words as he returned to consciousness.

"—han, are you all rig—"

"Ethan?"

Ethan blinked, and he slowly looked around. White walls. A window on the other side of the room, framed by soft white curtains. He adjusted his posture and realized that he was in a bed. White sheets, white pillows. He was in a hospital.

Ethan looked up. Lyra stood next to the bed, as worried as he had ever seen her. Behind his friend, a nurse with red curls patiently watched him, taking notes on a clipboard in her hands. Nurse Joy. He was in a pokemon center. A cheerful Chansey next to Nurse Joy smiled at him as he shook the last vestiges of sleep from his vision.

"Lyra?" said Ethan slowly, feeling the roughness in his throat as the sound left his mouth. He winced and he coughed, massaging his throat as he did. A glass of water appeared in front of him, and he took it without hesitation, drinking slowly but finishing the entire cup easily. He set the glass down and looked at his oldest friend. The feeling that something was missing suddenly hit him. "Wait, where are my pokemon?"

"Your pokemon are currently staying in our operating room," said Nurse Joy, speaking carefully. "Your abra has some burns and bruises from the explosion but only needed minor treatment. Your gastly seems to be fine. Your clefairy, though, has broken bones in her abdomen and mild poisoning. Her injuries were the most severe out of those of your pokemon, but she should be able to make a full recovery by the end of today."

Ethan nodded. "Thank you."

"Ethan, I was worried about you," said Lyra, frowning now but still looking at him worriedly. "When the bomb threats were announced, I tried to call you but you didn't pick up. Then I tried to find you in the forest, but you were gone. I almost went back into Union Cave until I got a call from the police, telling me that you were hurt. Why didn't you tell anyone where you were?"

Ethan blinked. He actually hadn't considered the fact that he had technically been missing for hours. He shook his head and stifled a groan as another headache came rushing back. "Honestly, Lyra, it slipped my mind. I was training when some old guy found me and started talking about intruders in Slowpoke Well. Then I went down there and found—"

"Excuse me, Mr. Rider?" Nurse Joy's voice interrupted him. Ethan looked up. Officer Jennifer was standing next to Nurse Joy, her expression soft as she looked at him. Nurse Joy retreated behind her after looking between the two of them. "Officer Jennifer would like to speak with you again."

Officer Jennifer shook her head as she took a spot next to Ethan's bed. "I've already read witness reports about the incident in Slowpoke Well, including one from Kurt Hirose, the old man you saw, that says that Team Rocket was stealing Slowpoke tails from the well."

"Team Rocket?" said Lyra incredulously. "They're still active?"

"Until recently, only in name," said the officer grimly. "They're stayed under the radar in the last few years, and we haven't heard anything about them until today, actually."

Officer Jennifer looked at Ethan, her eyes flashing. "They're incredibly dangerous and should _not_ be confronted under any circumstances. So tell me exactly why you confronted a criminal organization by yourself. Without calling the police."

"I tried to!" Ethan blurted out, and regretted it. He took a deep breath and exhaled. "The old guy told me that the police were busy in the Ilex Forest, so I went to check it out myself. When I got there, once I realized that it was Team Rocket, I tried to call for help, but they found me before I could. Then I was battling all of them. I almost beat all of them, but Executive Proton managed to get away by having his Koffing explode once I beat his Golbat. He—"

"Wait," Officer Jennifer interrupted, suddenly looking interested. "You said that you battled an executive? A Rocket leader?"

"Yeah," said Ethan, rubbing his temples.

"What did he look like?" said the officer as he now began to take notes on a small notepad. "You said his name was Proton?"

"Yeah, Proton," Ethan replied, frowning as he tried to remember the encounter. "He had bluish hair, and he wore different clothing from the other Rockets. He had some stripes on his shirt and his jacket was silver. That's what stood out to me."

Jennifer nodded. "That means he's a lot higher up in their organization. The ones we found back in the cave were all grunts; just recruits and low-level members in Team Rocket. Silver indicates status in Team Rocket. He was probably at least an admin, if not higher."

The police officer finished taking notes as Ethan recounted the battle and the executive's flight afterwards. She stood up, sliding the notepad into her jacket as she looked down at him.

"Thank you for your help, Mr. Rider," she said, but stopped him before he could say anything else. "Don't get me wrong; it was reckless and foolish of you to try to confront Team Rocket on your own. You could have been hurt, or killed."

Ethan's mind flashed back to the moment where Executive Proton had ordered his pokemon to kill him. The Golbat rushed towards him with a venom-tipped wing, preparing to strike him with bone-crushing force…

Ethan shook his head. Officer Jennifer's expression softened. "But I'm glad that you're all right. You've helped us stop a criminal organization from desecrating a piece of the cultural history of Azalea Town and ID'd one of Team Rocket's leaders. I'll be making a report for my superiors now, so you can rest and leave whenever you're ready."

Officer Jennifer ducked out of the room. And as soon as she left the room, another person entered. An old man, wearing dark blue robes held in place by a white cloth belt tied around his waist.

The old man smiled as he sat down in the room's remaining chair. "Hello, Ethan. I'm sorry that I've caused you pain in trying to help me. I had no idea of the danger."

"It's fine," said Ethan. He adjusted his position in the bed, wincing as pain lanced through his ribs. "I was glad to help."

The old man nodded. His eyes crinkled as he looked at Lyra now. "And who might you be?"

"I'm Lyra Kotone, Ethan's friend," said Lyra, glancing at Ethan. "Ethan and I are traveling together."

"It's good that you have each other for support," said the old man. "Your journey, while exciting and fun, can be tiring and dangerous, as we've learned today."

The old man frowned. "Forgive me. I forgot to introduce myself. I am Kurt Hirose. I am a custom pokeball smith."

"Wow, you must be one of the few people who still make their own pokeballs," said Lyra.

Kurt nodded. "Pokeball smithing is an old, old art that has been an integral part of Johto's history. They used to be made out of Apricorns, back when plastic and steel were not as readily available as they are now. Since the advent of industrial pokeball manufacturing, my craft has fallen out of use, but the work is rewarding and keeps my mind active."

Kurt dug into his robes and withdrew a light orange pokeball with small, strange yellow symbols dotting its surface. It was unlike anything Ethan had ever seen, and probably rare. "I actually came here to thank you for your help in the Slowpoke Well. You handled yourself like a real hero at the Well. I would be honored to make poke balls for a trainer like you, should you ever need a custom pokeball for a particular situation. This is all I have now, but take it."

The old man extended his hand with the pokeball sitting in his outstretched palm and dropped it into Ethan's waiting hand, who held it up to light and looked at the strange ball curiously.

"It is a fast ball," Kurt explained, looking at Ethan's expression with a faint smile. "Most poke balls nowadays have a specific range in which they operate. They can only reach a certain distance after being activated and thrown until the capture function is no longer effective. The fast ball has a greater reach and a lesser activation delay, meant for catching fast or fleeing pokemon. If you ever need to catch a pokemon on the fly, this is the ball to use."

Ethan stared at the ball with a bit of wonder before sliding it into his utility belt, which held his pokeballs, some potions, and a few other trainer tools. "Thank you, Mr. Hirose," said Ethan, almost stammering.

The old man chuckled. "Mr. Hirose sounds so dry. Just call me Kurt."

Kurt stood and headed to the door, stopping right before he exited the room. "Oh, I almost forgot." The old man withdrew a small device from his pocket. "Let me register my name and contact details with you, in the event that you need me and my craft."

Ethan registered Kurt's number into his phone, and the old man left. Ethan began to swing his legs out of the bed before Lyra stopped him, an eyebrow raised. "What are you doing?"

"What do you think I'm doing?" said Ethan, grinning. "I've got a battle to prepare for."

…

"Are you ready, Espy?"

_Yes._

Ethan smiled at his oldest pokemon, who, as usual, sat on his shoulders as they looked up at the Azalea Gym. Lyra stood next to him, Emerald at her side. A few minutes ago, Ethan had discovered that Emerald had evolved while he had been embroiled in the events yesterday. The newly-minted Bayleef stood at nearly shoulder height next to Lyra and likely bulked as much as Ethan and Lyra put together. Still, aside from the new form, it was apparent that nothing had changed as Emerald rubbed her head against Lyra's shoulder, who petted her head comfortingly.

"You want to go first, Ethan?" said Lyra, looking at him. "You always do want to go first."

"Only because you don't mind," said Ethan, grinning and opening the door. A small gust of air flowed over him as he entered the gym. The smell reminded Ethan of a forest.

Inside, Ethan was once again amazed by the furnishings of the Gym. The walls were covered in actual trees and vines, grown and nurtured within the building. The floor was made up of smooth rocks that formed a cobblestone path around the gym, but unlike regular cobblestone, the floor felt uneven and wet, more akin to natural stone than its artificial counterpart. A massive tree sat ten meters in front of the door, growing high into the ceiling beyond what Ethan could see. Chirps, buzzes, and hisses filled his ears as Ethan walked around the tree, seeing actual bug pokemon nesting within its leafy branches.

Beyond the tree, a more artificial construct broke up the wild nature of the Gym: a small orange counter ringing a room that jutted out of the side of the wall. A young and bored looking woman leaned back in her chair, half-asleep when Ethan and Lyra reached the counter.

"…hello?" said Ethan hesitantly.

The woman blinked and rubbed her eyes tiredly as she sat up. "…who? Oh," she said as she realized that there were people in the room. "Sorry, once you get used to this place, everything starts to blur together and you can get really sleepy…never mind that. So, judging from the pokemon and the gear, you two are trainers?"

"Yeah," said Ethan and Lyra, and the woman pulled up a monitor from underneath the desk, her fingers flying across the keyboard as she accessed the computer.

"Name and ID?" she asked, all business now.

"Ethan Rhyder. 26210928," Ethan rapped out, having memorized his ID near the beginning of his journey. The first number represented the region number, identifying which region he was registered in. The second number indicated in which sub region he lived. The third number was his town number within his sub region. The rest were randomly generated and assigned to his trainer card.

The woman punched in the information and waited a few seconds as the database processed the credentials. "Trainer for 26 days. One badge. Three registered pokemon. Okay, just head right through the door here. Bugsy's waiting for you."

"Can my friend come with me to watch?" said Ethan, and Lyra waved from behind him. Emerald shouted out her agreement from behind Lyra. "She'll battle later, but she wants to watch mine first."

The woman shrugged. "Go ahead."

The doors, framed by an orange substance that reminded Ethan of tree sap, slid open. Glancing at Lyra, Ethan exhaled quickly and walked inside.

Overhead lights shined down on the battlefield below. Like the last Gym battleground, the floor was marked by white paint in the shape of a pokeball in the center. Unlike the last field, however, the ground was stubbed with rocks and shrubs, some as high as Ethan's waist. The main chamber was spacious and was large enough for a pidgeotto to fly comfortably.

Ethan looked over to the other side of the field, where his opponent would usually stand, but there was no one there. He squinted as if it were some illusion, but Bugsy was really not there. He blinked.

"Hey! Sorry I'm late!"

Ethan turned his head to the right wall as a young man dressed in a dark green shirt and cargo shorts burst through the door, briskly walking until he came to a stop in front of Ethan. The man's hair was dyed purple and he looked at Ethan with a friendly smile.

"You must be Ethan," said the man. "Though I'm sure you already knew, I have to introduce myself. It's on the cheat sheet the League gives us for proper Gym procedure. I'm Bugsy, the Azalea Town Gym Leader. Nice to meet you."

Bugsy shook Ethan's hand, firmly and a little energetically. "I see you've beaten the featherbrain. He's a little serious and uptight sometimes, but he's an all right guy. Hard to believe we're the same age," the Gym Leader mused, shaking his head. Bugsy then backed up until he stood at the opposite end of the field. He unclipped one of his pockets and withdrew two pokeballs.

"This will be a two-on-two battle," said the Azalea Gym Leader. "I will choose first. If you release a pokemon, you can't withdraw your pokemon unless it faints or is otherwise considered unable to battle. No items, no substitutions are allowed. Under no circumstances are either of us allowed to seriously injure the other's pokemon. Don't blah, blah blah, commence blah. I think we both get the gist of it."

Ethan blinked but chuckled in spite of the fact that his heart was beating faster and faster as he held his own pokeball in his hand. Espy hummed in his mind, trying to get him to relax. It was only sort of working.

"Bring it on!" Bugsy shouted, and released his first pokemon. A bright flash of light, and a small green bug appeared in front of the Gym Leader. The bug's back was covered in black stripes and two small red mandibles hung on either side of its mouth as its beady black eyes focused on Ethan. It was a Spinarak.

It wasn't a pokemon that Ethan had expected a Gym Leader would be using, but he figured that if a pokemon was on a Gym Leader's team, whether it was his main team or not, the pokemon was not to be underestimated.

So he released Tricky, who stuck its tongue out at the Spinarak once he realized who its foe was. The bug type chittered at Tricky, but otherwise stayed still.

Bugsy smiled. "Spinarak, use String Shot. Keep away from the gastly."

The spider quickly fired off bursts of sticky string in rapid succession, covering the air in small webs. Tricky floated above the attack and weaved in and out, quickly crossing the field and approaching the spinarak. The bug type chittered and leapt backwards, firing off more and more string. Tricky dodged a particularly fast ball of web and dashed towards the spinarak.

Ethan saw his chance. "Tricky, use astonish!"

The gastly retreated into itself and exploded into a cloud of purple gas. The constrained pressure of pulling mass into a small volume meant that Tricky was shot forward faster than Spinarak could react. The ghost type quickly surrounded the bug type as it squealed and attempted to fire off more string. Tricky's long tongue appeared from behind Spinarak and quickly wrapped up the bug type. The bug type struggled for a few more seconds before paralysis set in and Spinarak collapsed to the ground.

Tricky grinned and wheeled around in the air as its opponent was called back into its pokeball. Bugsy tucked the ball back into his pocket and released his second pokemon.

The light from the release quickly coalesced into a much larger figure, as tall as Ethan if not taller. The pokemon's chitin armor was light green, and its arms ended in long, lethal-looking blades. Its wings on its back fluttered and Scyther floated in the air briefly before coming to a rest on the ground.

Ethan grimaced. Scyther were the top predators in the forests of Johto. They were fast and lethal in their attacks. They could also be stealthy, moving so fast and quietly that their prey wouldn't even be cognizant of their presence until it was too late. Their blades could slice through tree trunks as if they were nothing but air and were resistant to scratches and dulling, though since they were made of a substance that the body of a scyther naturally produced, they were self-repairing.

But Scyther were also relatively fragile. To compensate, they tended towards fast strikes intended to inflict maximum damage in as little time as possible. If the prey was still standing and ready to fight after they struck, Scyther retreated and waited until the right moment to strike again.

Tricky gazed at its opponent with absolutely no fear as the ghost type stuck its tongue out at the bug type. The scyther lifted its head proudly into the air and gave its blades a few test swipes, moving so fast that the movement was simple a blur.

Bugsy smirked. "Scyther here has been with me since he hatched a year ago. He's got a ways to go, but he's more than capable of taking on your gastly. Get ready."

"You can do it, Ethan!" Lyra shouted, with Emerald barking alongside him.

Ethan's brow furrowed and he began to bark orders at the ghost type. "Tricky, same strategy as last time. Weaken it. Use every trick you've got."

Tricky grinned and sped towards the Scyther, leaving a trail of purple in its wake as the ghost type sailed over the battlefield. The ghost type grinned as it neared the bug type.

Then the Scyther disappeared.

Tricky blinked as its opponent was suddenly no longer there. The gastly stopped, and began to rove around, looking for the scyther.

Ethan clenched his fists. Like he'd thought, Scyther was ridiculously fast, possibly faster than the golbat he had fought yesterday. He couldn't even see anything, not even a flicker of movement on the field. For a brief moment, he strained his ears trying to hear the scyther's footsteps, but then he remembered that Scyther had wings and could levitate above the ground, rendering it impossible to track its movements, save for the low hum that resulted from its wings beating thousands of beats per minute.

Tricky moved to the center of the battlefield, and that's when a flash of green near the edge of the field caught Ethan's eye. "He's on your right!" Ethan shouted. "Use Astonish!"

"Slash, Scyther," said Bugsy.

Too late. Tricky was only curling in on itself when Scyther appeared right behind the gastly and slashed through its body, causing the ghost to dissipate into a cloud of gas. The scyther leapt backwards to avoid the rising gas, which slowly began to coalesce back into the gastly's form.

It was a long shot, but Ethan didn't have many other options. "Tricky, weaken him! You know what to do!"

The gases briefly stopped contracting before suddenly exploding outwards, covering over half of the battlefield in a thin film of purple gas. The outpouring of gas startled the Scyther, causing it to wildly swipe at the cloud with its blades, carving the air with its slashes until the gas was repelled.

Tricky materialized in front of Ethan, collapsed on the ground. Ethan returned it and looked at the pokeball before clipping it back onto his belt. "You did your best," he whispered, and he looked up now at the psychic type on his shoulders. "Okay, Espy, you're up."

Wariness emanating from Espy. The psychic teleported onto the battlefield, drawing up a barrier as soon as she appeared. Ethan shook his head; this was not an ideal match up.

Psychic types were powerful. They could use their abilities to interact with objects without even touching them, create illusions and alter reality, and rip holes through dimensions to teleport. Unfortunately, they did have their weaknesses. Bugs were amongst them.

To track pokemon, Psychics could use their physical senses like their vision and hearing to find their prey. But their most powerful method of tracking pokemon lay in their ability to sense the other pokemon's mind and read their intentions before they acted, allowing psychic types to predict an attack before it came and deal with it accordingly. Bug types had minds unlike any other. Some had hive minds, fundamentally different from most other pokemon. Others had different sensory inputs that confused psychics; compound eyes, for instance, drew visual perspectives from multiple different sources that most psychics couldn't cope with all at once. Therefore, bug types' minds tended to be shielded from a psychic's vision, which meant that opposing psychics often had to rely on their physical senses alone. Against a creature like the scyther before them, it would be nearly impossible.

Ethan gritted his teeth. The scyther was the perfect opponent for Espy. Bug type, so its movements and intentions couldn't be read, and fast, too fast for Espy to react in time.

Ethan thought he saw sympathy in Bugsy's eyes as the Gym Leader ordered his pokemon to prepare to attack. He wasn't wrong; Scyther was the worst possible type of pokemon for Espy to face.

Espy realized this. She strengthened her barrier, pouring much more energy than usual into her psychic shielding. She definitely wouldn't give in without a fight. Neither would Ethan.

"Espy, use Confusion." A wave of psychic energy rippled across the battlefield, but Scyther easily evaded the attack and dashed towards Espy.

"Espy, teleport!" Ethan shouted. Espy vanished into thin air and appeared on the other side of the battlefield. As soon as she had teleported, Scyther stopped its dash and whirled around, flying towards Espy before entering its hyper speed and disappearing from sight. A low hum entered the air; Scyther was mobile and off the ground.

"Be ready to attack, Espy," said Ethan simply. There wasn't much else they could do.

Espy's eyes glowed bright blue as she prepared for Scyther's next strike. They had a small chance; Scyther had been slightly poisoned by Tricky's gas before the fight began, but Ethan knew that it wasn't going to help them here; that assumed that Espy lasted a long enough time for the poison to take its toll on Scyther's system.

A flicker of movement in the corner of his vision, and suddenly Scyther appeared right next to Espy, slashing her barrier with a vicious swipe from its blades before flickering away. The psychic shield flashed and dimmed. Ethan winced; Espy couldn't keep taking hits from the Scyther. Not for long.

Seconds later, Scyther materialized behind Espy and hammered her barrier again, this time causing shining cracks to appear on its surface. Espy quickly launched a flurry of psychic energy towards the bug type, but the scyther fluidly dodged the attack and disappeared again.

"Okay, let's finish this up, Scyther," said Bugsy, his voice clearly carrying across the field. "Fury Cutter."

Suddenly, Scyther appeared right in front of Espy, its blades glowing bright green as he launched his assault. The bug type screeched and launched itself at Espy's barrier, slashing and cutting so fast that to Ethan the attack simply looked like a green blur. Espy's shield easily broke and Scyther dashed forward to end the psychic.

Then the bug type froze. Struggled as it was slowly lifted into the air by a cocoon of blue aura. In the midst of the scyther's furious assault, Espy had caught the bug off guard. Ethan breathed a sigh of relief.

"Break out, Scyther."

Ethan's eyes widened as the Scyther flexed its muscles and shattered the psychic grip Espy had on its body. A split second later, the bug type rushed right towards the abra and swung its wickedly sharp blade. An yellow sphere of light appeared in front of Espy as the blade whistled through the air and slammed into Espy's quickly projected barrier. The shield cracked and shattered, but there was still enough kinetic energy remaining in the attack to launch the abra halfway across the field, tumbling through the dirt until she came to a stop meters away from Ethan.

"Espy!" Ethan shouted. The scyther shook its head and flew directly towards the psychic, its blades glowing green with the power of fury cutter. The bug type screeched and moved in to end the battle.

A blinding flash of light appeared in the center of the battlefield, searing through Ethan's eyes and driving him to the ground momentarily as he blinked away the spots in his eyes. Silence. Then growls and screeches penetrated the previously silent air. Ethan looked up.

The scyther was levitating in the air, trapped by blue psychic energy. The bug struggled to free itself from its prison, but this time it couldn't. Light still shined brightly from Espy's small form as the psychic slowly stood up, the first time Ethan had seen the psychic do so. More light began to emit from Espy until Ethan was watching the scene from behind a raised arm. A _crack_ echoed across the field, and the light immediately dimmed. Ethan held his breath.

Espy now stood strong and tall on the field. Her tail had lengthened until it touched the ground and curled up behind her. Long tufts of fur grew from her face, hanging down on either side to form the distinctive "mustache", though females tended to have shorter ones than males. She bulked larger than she had before and her eyes were wide open as she stared at the scyther.

Ethan had never seen a pokemon evolve in person before. A stray though struck him amidst his reverie that it was somehow fitting that the first evolution he had seen was his first pokemon.

The kadabra raised her hands into the air, and Scyther was carried higher towards the ceiling. The bug type hissed and squirmed, but Espy had powers beyond anything the bug had likely faced before. It wouldn't escape this time. Espy flicked her hands downward and the scyther sailed towards the ground, whistling through the air until it landed with a _smack_ in the center of the field, creating small fissures in the ground. The aura around the bug dissipated, but Scyther no longer moved. The battle was over.

And Ethan had won.

"Yes!" Ethan shouted, pumping his fists into the air. He had beaten Bugsy!

Espy teleported next to him, and Ethan had to adjust to his friend's new height and form, as she was now as high as his neck. He patted Espy on the shoulder. "You're the best," he said, grinning.

_Thank you, friend. _

Ethan nodded. His friend's mental voice no longer had its ethereal quality; it now brimmed with power and force behind it. Her voice sounded slightly older than before, more like a young teenager not much older than Ethan. But it was still recognizably her, though she was definitely now more commensurately powerful than she had ever been before. Ethan doubted he would have been able to defeat Bugsy were it not for her.

_ We would not have won, were it not for you as well._

Ethan chuckled. "You're just being modest. All I do is keep you guys fed and taking you places."

_You may come to realize how important you are to us, how strong you are. Be aware; the bug friend approaches._

Ethan turned around. "You're pretty amazing for a rookie," Bugsy commented lightly as he strode over to Ethan. His eyes were friendly and betrayed no sign at all of anger of having been beaten. "There's no doubt that you'll be an amazing trainer if you continue on as you are. I can't say that I've seen many evolutions in the middle of a battle like that."

The Gym Leader shrugged and pulled out a small red disc from his pocket, though it was spotted with black and reminded Ethan vaguely of a ledyba. "Here's the Hive Badge. You earned it."

Ethan held the badge up to light, watching the silver piece glint at him. Nodded to himself, before slipping it into his badge case. _Two now, _he thought to himself.

_And six more to earn_, came Espy's voice in his head.

_A lot of work to do. But we__'__ll do it. _"Thank you," said Ethan aloud. "I couldn't have done it without my friends."

Bugsy nodded. "It's true. What would we do without them?"

"I really hope you're talking about me," said Lyra, startling Ethan slightly as she stood right next to him. "Just kidding. Congratulations, Ethan! And I can't believe Espy evolved in the middle of a Gym battle! Amazing stuff, huh?"

Emerald barked her agreement, and Ethan smiled. "Thanks, Lyra. Yeah, it was definitely a close call back there. Anyways, are you going to challenge Bugsy now?"

His friend shrugged. "I'm ready if he is."

Bugsy laughed. "I'm always ready for a challenge, though you won't be facing Scyther. He's a bit beat up from the last battle and needs some time to rest. Don't worry, though; I've got plenty of worthy partners for you to face. They won't let up, either."

"Wouldn't have it any other way," Lyra replied, taking her place on her end of the field. Ethan settled into the metal benches on the side of the Gym, watching as Bugsy released his first pokemon, a weedle. The poisoning bug chittered at Lyra and inched towards her, jabbing its stinger into the air in anticipation. Emerald barked and hopped onto the field, lowering her head as she prepared for battle.

"Watch and learn, Ethan," Lyra shouted at him.

"Wouldn't have it any other way," said Ethan, grinning.

And the battle began.

…

It was over with surprisingly quickly.

Bugsy's Weedle wasn't able to do much against Emerald. The bug had attempted to fire off poison stingers in attempt to weaken the much larger pokemon, but Emerald was able to knock the stingers right out of the air with well-placed razor leaves and ensnare the bug with her vines. That fight had ended right then and there.

Bugsy had released a beedrill after his first pokemon. The flying bug was much faster than Ethan had thought possible and easily dodged every single attack Emerald threw at the beedrill. The beedrill was also able to inject poison into Emerald with its poison stingers early on, so the battle had quickly deteriorated from there. Once Emerald was almost down, the Beedrill had appeared behind the bayleef to end the battle. Only for Emerald to release a massive cloud of stun spore and poison powder over itself and the beedrill in a sacrificial gambit to cripple the bug. Emerald still lost, but the battle was almost over at that point. Lyra released Phoenix shortly after and the small bird type was able to outmaneuver and strike the beedrill down without much effort. Bugsy was impressed.

It was startling to see how great of a trainer his friend had become. Then again, Ethan had mostly been focusing on his own training and apparently had forgotten to compare himself to his friend. Lyra was clever and guileful battler, using traps and feints to defeat her opponents. Ethan tended to mostly rely on power, though he was getting better at coming up with unique tactics of his own in battle. He thought he was, at least.

_We all have much to learn. We will become stronger in time._

_ That__'__s optimistic thinking_, Ethan thought back at Espy. He stood up and stretched his legs as soon as he saw Lyra leave the pokemon center. "It's time to go now, Espy," said Ethan, raising the pokeball.

_I understand_. Since Espy's evolution, the psychic type had been unable to ride on Ethan's shoulders, for obvious reasons. Since Kadabra mainly resided in calmer regions and urban areas, the psychics weren't really built for traveling long distances on foot. Like the rest of their evolutionary line, they tended to be pretty sedentary.

"Ready to go now, Ethan?" said Lyra as she jogged up to meet him at the town barrier between Azalea and the Ilex Forest.

"Ready as I'll ever be," said Ethan. "You got everything you need?"

"Yeah," said Lyra, looking through her backpack. "Potions, pokeballs, rope…oh shoot. I did forget something. Would you please just hold on for a sec while I run to the store?"

"Go ahead," said Ethan, amused. Lyra nodded and quickly dashed to the store, which was nearly in the center of the town. He sighed and sat down on the bench. It wasn't late, but he wanted to make it through a significant portion of the Forest before dark. He closed his eyes.

"Tired already, loser?"

Ethan's eyes snapped open and zeroed in on the source of the voice. A familiar red-haired teenager stood next to the door of the town barrier, leaning against the wall and grinning from ear-to-ear.

It was the boy who had stolen Professor Elm's pokemon from his lab.

Ethan leapt to his feet, releasing the closest pokeball to his hand. A second flash of light joined his own, and soon Dancer was hopping next to his legs, happy at being released again. A zubat fluttered next to the red-haired trainer, baring its fangs at the duo.

"What a surprise," Ethan snarled. "I never thought you'd show your face in public."

"That's because I've been busy training," said the teenager lazily as he pushed himself off the wall. Although his body was relax, his eyes were bright and alert as he stared at Ethan. "You know, what real trainers do. You wouldn't believe the kind of weak pokemon out there—oh wait, you would."

The red-haired trainer chuckled. "Out of all the pokemon you had to choose from, you picked that thing? That's one way to waste your trainer's license."

"Are you going to keep talking, or are you going to battle me now?" said Ethan. Dancer stared determinedly at the young man, having picked up on the tension between the two trainers.

The thief raised an eyebrow. "Well, you're certainly eager to lose today. Not that I mind; I've got bigger and better things to do."

He looked at his zubat. "Zubat, tear that thing apart."

The poison type shrieked and took to the air. Dancer immediately began to shroud the area with fairy aura released from its wings on its back, covering the ground in a thick, pink mist. Zubat fluttered above the mist, beating at the air with its wings in an attempt to blow the mist away.

The red-haired trainer snorted. "That won't help you, loser. Zubat, use that sonar of yours and find the pink thing. Hit it with wing attack."

Zubat screeched, and Ethan winced as the noise strained his ear drums. The zubat flew in a circle in the air to build up momentum and suddenly swooped down towards Dancer's form in the mist, its wings glowing bright white.

Ethan saw his chance. "Dancer, now!"

As soon as the zubat skimmed the top of the mist, Dancer acted. A much louder shout boomed across the area and zubat shuddered in mid-flight, disoriented by the sound attack. Then Dancer leapt into the air, assisted by the abundance of fairy aura around her, and landed solidly on the zubat's back, bringing the smaller creature to the ground. The two pokemon disappeared into the mist, and Ethan could hear grunts and screeches as the pokemon fought.

"Come on, Zubat!" the thief shouted. "It's just a stupid clefairy! Beat it already."

Seconds passed, and the sounds of the struggle disappeared. The mist slowly began to dissipate, only to reveal the form of Dancer as she stood strong and proud. The zubat lay on the ground, defeated.

The red-haired trainer shook his head as he returned the zubat. "It looks like I'm going to kick up this stupid bat's training if it's getting beaten by a clefairy," the teenager growled, and released his next pokemon.

The ground shook as the massive pokemon hit the dirt, larger than anything Ethan had seen yet. The creature's hide was gray and jagged, looking more like it was made from rock than organic material. The rhyhorn reared up and roared its challenge into the air before slamming back onto the ground, snorting.

Ethan immediately returned Dancer. While the fairy type was slowly coming along, there was no way she was going to be able to beat the behemoth before him. Ethan grimaced as he released Tricky, who cackled and stared at the rhyhorn, who snorted back at the ghost.

The red-haired trainer smirked. "Rhyhorn, take it down."

The rhyhorn roared and charged forward, shaking the ground as it made its thunderous dash towards Tricky. The ghost levitated into the air, simply watching the rhyhorn approach. "Tricky, it's a rhyhorn," Ethan warned the ghost, who stuck its tongue at him before turning back towards its opponent. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "It's got rock-hard armor and it's practically immune to most attacks. You're going to need to do a lot of damage to it to take it down. Try to poison it."

Tricky complied, swooping down low to meet the rhyhorn. The ghost type readied its gases to expel towards the rock type, slowly compacting its body. As typical for a gastly, Tricky didn't really worry about physical attacks. Most physical attackers, especially normal type pokemon, didn't have the ability to harm ghosts like gastly. Unless aided by the innate white energy residing in all pokemon, elemental energy, or pure energy abilities, most physical attacks would faze right through a ghost comprised of gases and energy like gastly. So it was without fear that Tricky faced down the charging beast of a rhyhorn.

The thief grinned. "Use Crunch, Rhyhorn!"

Ethan stared in horror as he shouted at the ghost to move before it was too late. But as Tricky realized the danger and moved to get out of the way, the rhyhorn had already closed in on the ghost and opening its gaping black maw to firmly crush the gastly between its teeth with a booming _crack_ as its mouth shut. The lingering purple gases slowly reformed in front of Ethan as gastly collapsed to the ground, its energy spent. Ethan returned Tricky.

The red-haired trainer was chuckling. "Told you, kid. Nothing but dumb luck."

Ethan was silent as he released Espy, who stared at the red-haired trainer malevolently once she realized who he was. Then she turned her attention to the rhyhorn.

_We must not let him win here._

_Agreed_, Ethan thought back. "Espy, wipe the floor with that rhyhorn."

The thief snorted. "Can't believe you even managed to evolve that thing. Rhyhorn, Crunch."

The rhyhorn growled and made its charge towards the psychic. Espy didn't even blink as the rock type barreled straight at her, its mouth opened wide and glowing with dark energy. She simply raised her arm and…attacked.

To the rhyhorn's right, a tree log was suddenly lifted into the air and thrown several meters through the air before crashing into the beast's side, throwing it off course and skidding across the ground. The beast landed on its side but immediately righted itself, shaking its massive head. Then the rhyhorn growled and pawed the ground, readying itself for another charge. Espy didn't let it have that chance.

The rhyhorn's growl was cut off as the rock type was lifted into the air, borne aloft by the psychic energy surrounding its body. Ethan stared in awe as the rock type was lifted higher and higher into the air. As an abra, Espy could lift objects, but only as much as twice her body mass. As a kadabra, Espy had the power to lift objects bigger than Ethan could imagine.

Even with her newfound power, lifting the bulky rhyhorn was still a strenuous task. The air around Espy's head shimmered with excess energy as she held the rhyhorn in the air, continuously assaulting its body with psychic energy. Resistance to psychic attacks lay in two different areas: physical fortitude and mental strength. Rhyhorn certainly had the physical resistance attribute and could withstand an immeasurable amount of physical stress. Unfortunately for Rhyhorn, its mental strength was minimal. In its natural habitat, rhyhorn didn't really have a need to have very developed intelligence when its natural weapons could defend it and its herd from the environment. So it was only after several seconds that the rhyhorn fell unconscious.

The red-haired trainer returned the rhyhorn before Espy had finished lowering it to the ground. "Not bad for a chump," said the teenager as he released his next pokemon. "But this is the end of the line for you."

A blue figure appeared in front of the red-haired trainer. Its head was topped with red spikes and its underbelly was a pale yellow, running down from its chest area through its legs. Its jaws were huge; they had to be, in order to be able to carry the several rows of teeth in the creature's maw. The croconaw was roughly chest-height with Ethan, and it stared down Espy, who looked at the water type impassively. Watched as the croconaw raised its arm…and waved.

The croconaw hopped a little into the air, excited at seeing the duo again. Ethan raised an eyebrow. _Hard to believe that pokemon belongs to this guy_.

_Trainers may impress knowledge and even mannerisms on pokemon, but some things never change_. Espy drew up a barrier around herself. Her psychic shield was much more powerful than before, glowing bright yellow as she wrapped herself with her greatest defense.

"Cut it out, Croconaw!" the red-haired trainer snapped at the water type, who stopped hopping now and looked expectantly at his trainer. "Charge at it and use Water Barrage. Follow it up with Bite."

The croconaw turned towards Espy now and reared back, its jaw swelling with barely restrained power. Then it released its attack, showering Espy's shield with a powerful torrent of water. The water type lumbered towards the psychic as it continued to pound her shield with its attack.

Ethan smiled. Espy knew exactly how to deal with this. It was the same strategy that the teenager had used before. Distract her with water attacks before closing in on her with a dark type ability that would render her psychic detection useless. It was certainly an effective strategy. But it wouldn't work twice.

Espy released her barrier and teleported, appearing behind the croconaw. Before the water type could react, Espy had released a pulse of psychic energy that knocked the croconaw flat on its face, shutting off its water gun.

"Get up!" The thief snarled, and the croconaw began to get to its feet. "Rush it. Anti-psychic."

For a clumsy-looking creature, the croconaw moved surprisingly fast as it whirled around and released a torrent of water from its maw. Then it ran _into_ the pulse of water it had just released, cloaking itself with the liquid. Its teeth glowed with dark energy as the croconaw rushed across the field, halted only when it crashed into the hastily erected barrier Espy threw up in front of herself. The water type's teeth easily carved through the psychic shield and closed in on the psychic.

"Espy, get it away from you!" Ethan shouted. The kadabra did the only thing she could in that situation: she released a massive burst of psychic energy straight in front of herself, striking the croconaw not two feet away. For the croconaw, it was like running into a solid wall, stopping the pokemon dead in its tracks. Still, kinetic energy could only be released in certain ways, and Espy was hurled backwards into a tree as a result of the blast. Her tail absorbed most of the impact, but the attack had to have done some damage. The kadabra line wasn't the most sturdy.

Espy raised her head tiredly as the croconaw staggered to its feet. Both pokemon were hurt, but neither would give in. They were going to fight to the finish.

Ethan frowned in confusion as the croconaw was suddenly returned to its pokeball. The red-haired trainer brushed a few stray hairs from his face. "I've seen enough," he scoffed. "I'm done here."

"You're not running away this time," said Ethan, stepping towards the red-haired trainer. Espy tried to raise her arm, but she was too shaken to be able to focus her energies at the moment.

"You're acting like you can stop me," said the teenager, and broke off into a run, crashing through the doors and disappearing from sight.

"Hey!" Ethan shouted. He looked at Espy. "Sorry, Espy. I've got to return you now."

The psychic nodded and she soon disappeared in a red flash of light. Before Ethan had finished clipping the pokeball to his belt, he heard a voice behind him.

"Ethan!" Lyra shouted as she ran to him, her eyes quickly absorbing the torn up ground around him. "What happened—

"The thief is back," he growled, shrugging his backpack on. "I almost beat him in a battle, but he ran away again. We've got to catch him."

Lyra's face darkened at the mention of the red-haired trainer. "Okay. Let's find him."

Ethan nodded and burst through the doors himself now, running into the forest. The thick forest brush soon began to obscure the sun overhead, and Ethan found himself adjusting his eyes as they ran along the main path through the forest. He looked left and right, in case the thief had ducked into the cover of the trees.

Minutes later, they stopped, panting as exertion caught up with them. Ethan's hands were on his knees as he took deep breaths. Lyra was on the ground, clutching her abdomen. "He…could…be anywhere by now," she huffed. "We can't just…run after him. This is the…Ilex Forest. We could get lost in here."

Ethan cursed to himself and looked around. The sun was actually setting now; their battle and chase had apparently taken longer than he had thought. He could see small bug pokemon lurking in the shadows of the trees, some staring at the two humans curiously as they regained their breath. He reminded himself that Ilex Forest was dangerous, especially at night.

He clenched his fists. "You're right," he said, the tension draining out of him. "He was just so close again. I can't let him get away next time."

Lyra nodded. "And next time, I hope I'm there with you so we can get the little creep. But this is the wrong way to go about doing it."

Ethan sighed and stood up straight. "Well…what do we do now?"

Lyra got to her feet as well and stretched her arms. "Well, I don't know if you've noticed, but we're in the middle of a _forest_. We need to set up camp, and fast. Go grab some firewood before the light's gone. Don't go too far."

Ethan nodded and began to head off into the brush, silent as he clambered over overgrown roots and shrubs. He looked ahead, seeing the woods stretch out before him. He imagined seeing the red-haired trainer hiding behind each tree trunk, taunting him. He gritted his teeth.

_Next time. _

…

**How was this chapter? Good? Bad? Okay? Whatever you think, feel free to leave me a review/comment and let me know how I****'****m doing. Thanks for reading!**


	3. The Golden City

**The Golden City**

…..

**A/N: Wow, this chapter took a lot longer than I expected. I****'****ve been pretty busy this past month, not only due to college but also several other things I****'****ve recently become involved in. This year started off with a bang, but I hope to get to updating sooner in the near future. Meanwhile, I****'****ve looked at the reviews and the PMs, and I hope that I****'****ve addressed some of the issues/comments that were brought up. Again, first attempt at a story like this, so please excuse some of the rookie mistakes I might make. Also, sorry about the length of this chapter. I considered adding the next step of Ethan's journey into this chapter, but I felt like, plotwise, it wouldn't really make sense and it would leave the chapter off at a weird ending. Anyways****…****here we go!**

…

"Try again, Dancer."

The Clefairy pointed one digit into the air and concentrated hard. Soon, dozens of small particles of light appeared around her hand, swirling around the tip of her finger until they met to form a dense ball of light. Dancer drew her finger down and pointed at a tree they were using for practice. A second later, a beam of light shot forward from Dancer's finger and struck the tree, only for the energy to dissipate upon contact. The light in Dancer's hand died.

Dancer looked down, dejected. As she looked up at Ethan, she flinched slightly before resuming her usual stance in preparing the attack.

"It's okay, Dancer," Ethan sighed. The Clefairy still had the tendency to be slightly afraid of him, especially when she failed something or lost a battle. He figured that it was a result of having been owned by Team Rocket, which made his teeth hurt at the thought. He shook his head and banished the stray thoughts. "Come on, you can do it. Try again, Dancer."

The move that he was trying to teach Dancer was Dazzling Gleam. The fairy move essentially worked by having the pokemon in question gather enough fairy energy, which, in this case was drawn from the moonlight stored in the Clefairy's small wings on its back, and concentrate the energy into one point before unleashing it in a single beam of energy. Ethan had found the move on his Pokedex after doing some research into the clefairy and figured that it would give Dancer more teeth in a fight. It wasn't an exact science, trying to teach a pokemon a move through a video demonstration and a description, but Ethan didn't really have many other options than to trust in his friends' abilities.

Dancer concentrated hard as she formed another ball of light above her head, faster than the last time. Ethan looked up just in time to see Dancer fire a pink beam of energy into the tree, carving through the wood and into the ground behind the tree, throwing up a small cloud of dust.

Ethan grinned. "Nice! Good job, Dancer."

Dancer squeaked in happiness and began to hop side to side. Ethan rubbed the Clefairy's head and looked around.

Espy had disappeared for a little while. Roughly an hour ago, the Kadabra had simply told him, "_I will return soon, friend. There is something that I must do_", and walked into the forest. Ethan had shrugged and told Lyra what had happened, who shrugged and decided to work with her pokemon in the meantime. She also had to check on the egg and make sure that it was fine after all the traveling they had done. They agreed to pack up camp but to stay until Espy returned. So Ethan had taken the time to work with his team.

Tricky was just floating around the edge of the clearing. The Gastly enjoyed tormenting pokemon tremendously, cackling as it caused Caterpie to fall off tree branches or disturbed a Pidgey's roost. While Ethan didn't mind that Tricky was getting his daily dose of mischief out of the way, he hoped that the ghost wouldn't provoke anything beyond what it could handle—namely the hives of Beedrill and Kakuna that were known to nest in the Ilex Forest. A couple of Beedrill, Ethan reasoned that they could handle. He couldn't imagine a pitched battle with dozens of the flying bugs.

_I have returned. We may leave now, if you wish. _Espy appeared next to Ethan without a sound. Ever since the Abra had evolved, Espy's powers had grown exponentially. Before, when she teleported, there was a noticeable flash of light and a small _crack_ as she flitted in and out of the dimensions. Now, there was only a small gust of air as Espy materialized into existence and pushed the existing air out of the way with her body. It was only a small sign of what she could do in the future.

"What were you doing?" said Ethan as he shrugged on his backpack. He quickly recalled Tricky and Dancer; Clefairy weren't really built for continuous long-distance travel and he didn't want to bother to keep track of Tricky as they made their way through the Ilex Forest.

Blue aura swirled in front of Espy as a single, silver object levitated from behind her body and hovered between them. The object looked like a spoon to Ethan, yet there were subtle differences. Intricate swirls were etched into the circular end of the object, which wasn't as concave as that of a spoon. Other than that, the object was impossibly smooth, and Ethan could even see his reflection along the length of the metal.

_For my kind, we must have an object in which we can focus our energies and affect the world around us. This __"__spoon__"__, as you humans refer to it, is made of pure silver, drawn from the depths of the earth. Without it, my powers would be relatively fragmented and weakened. _

Ethan nodded. "I understand," he said simply.

"Hey, can we go yet?" Lyra asked, appearing behind him. Emerald nudged his shoulder with her head. "It's almost noon, and I want to be able to get through a good bit of the Forest today."

"Okay," said Ethan, and he looked at Espy. "Ready to go?"

_Yes. _

Ethan returned Espy, and they began their journey.

Since it was only a month after the Indigo Conference, there were plenty of trainers on the road. On this side of Johto, most of the trainers Ethan and Lyra encountered were young, around their age for the most part, though they definitely weren't as skilled as they were. Most of them didn't have any badges at all, though there were a few that had one, maybe two. Those with one badge mostly had fire and flying pokemon, a sure sign that they had simply used their pokemon's natural advantages against bugs and beaten Bugsy's watered down teams surely without much effort. They actually weren't that strong, or trained for that matter. That was a common strategy, apparently, but Ethan didn't really understand the reward behind it. What was the point of essentially lying to yourself about your skills? He didn't understand it, Lyra didn't understand it, but he definitely didn't mind when he beat their pokemon and his winnings.

Every now and then, they ran into a much stronger trainer, one with five or more badges under his/her belt. One of them had had a Magmar that had nearly destroyed a huge chunk of the forest during their battle. Espy had valiantly attempted to hold off the Magmar, teleporting away from its destructive attacks and hitting it with psychic blasts with hit-and-run tactics, but the Magmar was tough and barely seemed tired after several such hits. In the end, the Magmar had caught Espy off guard and overwhelmed her shields with a massive gout of flame. Ethan had gladly handed over his winnings to that trainer, who seemed impressed that Espy had managed to hold off the veteran battler for so long.

It was mid-afternoon when they ran into a strange man wearing dark robes criss-crossed with white strips of cloth. The man had noticed them immediately and ran over to them.

"Hey, there!" The man's face was dirty and sported a grizzly beard. His hands were streaked with black and gray, though after a second Ethan realized that the marks were made from ash.

"You two look like strong, helpful trainers," the man continued, his eyes looking wild. "Have you seen a Farfetch'd running around this forest? It belongs to my family."

They both shook their heads. "Sorry," said Ethan, shrugging. "We haven't noticed any."

The man clutched his head and turned away, muttering to himself, though certainly not quiet enough so that Ethan couldn't hear him. "This is bad. This is not good. What are we going to do now? We'll have to close the kiln if I can't find him, and then we'll have to spend even longer looking for another one…"

"Are you okay?" said Lyra, looking concerned and a bit quizzical.

"No!" said the man, whirling around and causing the two to jump a little. "That Farfetch'd cuts the wood for my shop, the Azalea Kiln! If I can't find him, I'll lose at least a week's worth of business! Please, will you help me find my Farfetch'd?"

"We'll look around on our way ahead," said Ethan. "If we find him, we'll bring him back."

"If we find him," Lyra whispered as they continued to walk through the forest, leaving the man behind them. "The Ilex Forest is _huge_. Needle, meet haystack."

"I know," said Ethan, glancing around the trees. "But it won't hurt to at least keep our eyes out for a Farfetch'd. If we don't see it, then we just keep walking. If we do, we'll try to catch it and bring it back to him."

"Okay," said Lyra, shrugging.

"Hey, I think I see another trainer," said Ethan, squinting ahead. A short boy in blue shorts was walking towards them with a Rattata trotting alongside him. "You want this one?"

"You got the last one," said Lyra, walking in front of Ethan.

"He looks easy anyways. I'll wait for a real challenge."

"You already battled the Magmar guy, didn't you?"

"Okay, a real challenge that I can beat."

An hour and several trainers passed, and Ethan saw something. "Check it out!" he said, stopping Lyra. "Is that a Farfetch'd?"

A brownish-feathered bird was hopping along a branch of one of the trees. It was short and its face was tipped with a yellow bill. One wing was curled around a green-tipped stick, tapping against the tree as if the Farfetch'd was expecting something to happen. The bird turned its head towards them, ten meters away, and squawked once. Then it hopped into the brush.

The two stared confusedly at the now empty tree for a second before Ethan suddenly shook his head. "That's the Farfetch'd! Follow it!"

Ethan released Tricky, who immediately began to float alongside him as he launched himself into the thicket. "Ethan, wait!" Lyra's voice called out behind him, but Ethan was already sprinting through the forest, knocking tree branches and forest brush out of his way. The small brown form of the Farfetch'd was only meters ahead of him, but the little bird seemed to pick up the pace as it realized that it was being chased. Then the Farfetch'd fluttered up into a tree, high above Ethan's reach.

"Tricky, get that Farfetch'd!" The Gastly cackled as it swooped up to meet the Farfetch'd. As Tricky approached, the Farfetch'd twirled the stick around its back and fluttered to the side as Tricky zipped past where the bird had stood. As soon as the Gastly was in range, the Farfetch'd raised a glowing wing, still carrying the stick, above its ahead and smashed its weapon on Tricky, who quickly dissipated into a puff of smoke. The Farfetch'd looked down at Ethan, hopped off the tree, and began to retreat further into the forest.

Ethan cursed and sprinted after the bird. He could hear Tricky reforming behind him, but he couldn't let the bird out of his sight. The forest was bursting with sounds of pokemon all around him, all chirps, hisses, buzzes, and squeaks, but he was trying to listen for the bird's familiar squawk, which penetrated the din every now and then. The Farfetch'd always seemed to be just out of reach, as if the bird was toying with him.

Ethan ran around a tree and ran for close to a minute before he finally realized something. He couldn't see the Farfetch'd anymore. At all. It was as if the bird had simply disappeared.

Ethan stopped and looked around, slowly regaining his breath and quickly realizing the problem now. He was in the middle of the Ilex Forest, far away from the main road and surrounded by nothing but trees and pokemon. A familiar chill appeared near his right ear, and he waved Tricky away; he didn't have time for the ghost's antics right now. He needed to get his bearings and figure a way out of the mess he had gotten himself into—and soon. Ethan wasn't too worried about being attacked by wild pokemon; most of the pokemon in the Ilex Forest were passive and generally only attacked when provoked. He was mostly worried about starvation and exposure. He only had a few day's worth of supplies in his backpack for him and his pokemon, who would probably survive longer than him if they became stranded out here.

Keeping calm, Ethan began to walk back from where he came from, following the trail of disturbed leaves and grass left from his earlier sprint. Tricky was idly floating around him as he walked, fazing through trees and nests and generally disturbing the surrounding pokemon. "Cut it out, Tricky," said Ethan, glancing at the ghost, who stuck its tongue out at him in response. "You're going to end up bothering something you can't handle."

The Gastly opened its mouth wide and abruptly dissolved into a cloud of purple gas, losing form and corporeality in an instant. A few seconds later, the gas rippled and reformed back into the familiar round shape of Tricky, who proceeded to stick its tongue at him once more.

"Yes, you're practically invincible," said Ethan dryly, rolling his eyes. "But I was mainly talking about _me_."

Tricky giggled. Ethan stared at him. The ghost swooped into the air above him and hovered there with a frown on its face, disappointed at having its fun curtailed. Ethan grimly smiled as the picture the two of them, a Gastly floating above his head, reminded him of dead souls departing for the afterlife. _That__'__s right; think positive thoughts. _

Then, something far off echoed. Ethan glanced over where the sound had come from, but there was no one there. Just trees and brush. Then, another echo. Ethan frowned and concentrated. It sounded as if someone was calling his name. As another echo passed, he began to walk towards the source, slowly at first but breaking into a jog after a minute. As he walked closer and closer, the sound started off as soft as a whisper and gradually increased in volume until the echo was bouncing around from all different directions. Now that he was closer, it sounded like someone was saying "chosen." Ethan's hand parted away another branch, and he stopped. Lowered his arm and slowly stepped into the small clearing that had appeared in front of him.

A small wooden structure stood in the center of a clear patch of grass in the middle of the forest. It looked like a large birdhouse, except, birdhouses didn't have gently flowing arches and carefully rounded edges. Didn't have a small piece of wood protruding from the center of the structure, where a small intricately carved figurine stood as if it was growing from the wood. Didn't have small golden sunbeams casting light over it, with small motes of dust and particles dancing in the light. To Ethan, it looked more like a shrine of some sort.

As Ethan was mesmerized by the sight, his hand unconsciously unlatched the two pokeballs from his belt and released Espy and Dancer. The Clefairy stopped and stared at the structure, an expression of pure joy on her face. Espy looked at the shrine with glowing blue eyes, and the spoon in her hand trembled as she stared at the shrine. _This is a special place._

"What is it, though?" said Ethan after a moment. He looked up; even Tricky was staying unnaturally still, not a smile or frown on its face as it gazed at the shrine. He wasn't as strongly affected as his pokemon, but Ethan did feel strange. His body felt lighter, and his mind was wandering in a thousand places, as if the energy in the air was energizing him. Ethan felt vibrant and _alive_.

_Over the course of time, it is accepted that there are always beings more powerful and higher than you. Such is the natural order. But, eventually, there comes a time when there are beings that are beyond mortal comprehension, beyond even the understanding of psychics, we who understand the physical world in its entirety and focus our energies on whole universes. Their work shapes dimensions, and we feel its ripples across time and space. _

"I…understand," said Ethan slowly. It wasn't an exact answer, but he understood it as if her intentions and words had simply passed into him from her. He simply understood it, even if his consciousness didn't recognize it just yet.

Heat began to spread over the top of his head, starting from his hair and slowly traveling downward until his entire body felt warm. The warmth wasn't uncomfortable; it reminded him of a cold winter day, when he would sit in front of a fireplace with his arms nestled in the crooks of pillows, watching the flames crackle and dance before him. He could see the light around him building up in intensity, growing brighter and brighter until the grass almost appeared pure white. By some strange reasoning that popped into his head, Ethan looked up.

He wasn't blinded. Light seemed to bend around him wherever he looked. His eyes slowly roved over the daytime sky until he gazed over where the light seemed to emit from. Not the sun, but from something else. An iridescent gamut of colors and lights, gently streaking across the sky. It was if a thousand rainbows had coalesced into a single point and was now floating above him like the slowest shooting star, leaving sparkles flitting around in its wake. The entire sky seemed to warp around the spectacle, twisting and shifting as it moved through the air. Ethan felt strong and alive, yet so infinitesimally small compared to the wonders of the world, the galaxy, and the universe.

Then, the light began to dim. The colors receded until the sky was once again its normal clear blue. The voices around him and in his head died down until there was nothing but the sounds of everyday, average pokemon around him. Ethan collapsed to the ground, sitting down hard on the grass, his legs jelly as the sensation of energy and life bled away into nothingness.

_What__…__was that?_ Ethan thought, for the spectacle he had just witnessed and the sensations he had just felt were beyond words. He felt oddly happy, though he wasn't sure why.

Espy seemed almost frozen, her eyes riveted on the sky above them. As if his words had jolted her awake, his friend slowly looked down until her eyes met his. _A mere example of the wonders behind the physical existence that we have come to know as all that exists._

"But," said Ethan as he found his voice again. "What exactly was it?"

_Life._

Ethan looked up again. This time, there was a small figure flying through the sky, floating gently in circles around their general area. The figure grew closer and closer until Ethan could see the bird's red streaked feathers and beautiful plumage. The bird was probably over half of his height and its wings created gusts of wind that buffeted Ethan as it descended. The Pidgeotto chirped again and circled just overhead. Ethan knew in an instant that the bird was Phoenix.

Lyra's Pidgeotto hovered over him for a few more seconds before zipping away again, having located him. Ethan simply remained sitting on the grass, staring at shrine that had likely brought him to this place. What was its purpose, and what kind of beings rested here, in the middle of the Ilex Forest? There were so many questions, and they were all spinning through his head as he sat there, gazing at the structure. Espy was shining with psychic energy, her entire body shimmering with blue aura, energized by Life. Tricky was lurking around in the shadows of the trees, frowning at the sudden outpouring of light and heat that had enveloped the clearing. Dancer was hopping around the grass, dancing in circles around Ethan and Espy as if she were performing some strange ritual. The Clefairy had the widest smile on its face as it squeaked excitedly at them.

A few minutes later, Ethan heard a rustle behind him. "Ethan!" Lyra's voice called out, and he staggered to his feet, the blood in his legs hissing at him for sitting on them in one position for so long.

"Hey, Lyra," said Ethan.

"Really? Just 'Hey, Lyra'?" said his friend, glaring at him. "What were you even thinking? You just ran off into the middle of Ilex Forest and expected to find your way back how?"

Ethan shrugged helplessly. Lyra rested her forehead against the tips of her fingers and sighed before glaring at him again. "I've been looking for you for nearly an hour."

"Really? It's been that long?" Ethan hadn't thought that his experience had really taken so much time. _It seemed so short to me__…_

"Yes, it has!" said Lyra. "I had Phoenix searching for you while I looked on the ground. Then I ran into a Beedrill on my way here, and I was lucky that Phoenix actually evolved in the middle of battle. Otherwise, I would have really been in trouble."

"Sorry, Lyra," said Ethan. "I didn't mean to put you in danger, too."

She shook her head. "Just…don't be so stupid again, okay? There's only so many times I can do this sort of thing until you get unlucky."

"Yeah," said Ethan, nodding. He looked up, as if the thing he had seen in the sky would appear again.

Meanwhile, Lyra had noticed the structure behind him. "And what's this behind you?"

His friend walked over to the shrine, looking it over closely. "Wow," she said admiringly. "Someone put a lot of effort into this. And…is this supposed to be Celebi?"

"What?" Ethan moved next to Lyra now, and followed the line from her finger to the small figurine in front of the shrine. Now that his head was clearer, he could fully inspect the figurine. At first, he thought it was a person, but as he looked closer, he realized that the statue wasn't even remotely humanoid. The creature had a large, round head, nearly half the bulk of its body, and its eyes were large on its face. Two delicate-looking branches grew out of his head, looking like antennae.

"Celebi, the Voice of the Forest," said Lyra, frowning as if she was trying to remember some long-forgotten lesson. "It's an old legend. It's said that Celebi is the guardian of the Ilex Forest, and that this shrine is supposed to be its home."

Ethan frowned. Was it possible that he had actually met Celebi? "What else about Celebi? Anything about…heat or light?"

Lyra shook her head. "I don't think so. The only other thing I know about Celebi is that it's supposed to be a traveler of time. It's supposed to only be present during times of peace."

So it probably wasn't Celebi that Ethan had met. But what could he have possibly seen in the sky? He resolved to conduct some research of his own later. Out loud, Ethan only said, "Why do you know so much about old legends?"

"It's always been interesting to me," said Lyra, stepping back from the shrine. "Anyways, we've got to get back on the main path. I really don't want to be stuck out here when it gets dark."

"Uh, do you know your way back?" said Ethan, looking behind Lyra, where she had entered the clearing.

Lyra walked over to an average looking tree and pointed at a cross cut into the bark. "Trail markers," said his friend, looking back at Ethan. "Someone here's got to keep us going the right direction."

…

Fortunately for Ethan and Lyra, Ilex Forest wasn't that large, just barely over one thousand square miles of area. Thus, it only took them roughly five days to navigate their way out of the forest proper.

Now they had reached the outskirts of the Goldenrod sub-region. Unlike most of the other cities in the Johto region, Goldenrod City was an organism that spread far beyond its core structures. The main city stretched nearly six miles in every direction, with multiple suburban living areas branching out from the core. Most of the residents and businesses in Goldenrod tended to stay within its immediate area of influence. But as the administrative center and the largest city in the Goldenrod sub-region, the borders of the metropolis actually stretched nearly seventeen miles from its center. And so Ethan could already see small inns and traveler's stores dotting the main road, each populated with several trainers and businessmen, all on their way to the Golden City. It was only just the beginning of the day, and as Ethan was walking along the cobblestone path to the city, he could see some of the trainers splitting off from the side of the road, pokeballs clutched in their hands.

One trainer held two pokeballs as he stood in Ethan's path, and he pointed at him. "Yo! Ready for a battle?" said the trainer, a sandy-haired skater type wearing dark sunglasses. The sun was shining bright today, and Ethan was beginning to wish he had brought a pair of sunglasses with him on his journey.

"I'm always ready," said Ethan, unlatching a pokeball from his belt.

The teenager shook his head, grinning. "Want to make it interesting? We'll have a double battle, with double the standard winnings. Two on two."

Ethan raised an eyebrow. While he had battled with more than one pokemon before and even with another trainer cooperatively, he didn't have any real experience with the battle mode. Doubles battling was a style of battle brought over from the Hoenn region. It had come into its own in the competitive battling scene, but most major tournaments and competitions still tended to only hold the singles battling mode.

Doubles required a great deal of coordination and skill. Just because two pokemon were very powerful on their own didn't mean that they were necessarily powerful together. Two decent pokemon that could work together would always beat two strong pokemon that didn't work together. During a doubles battle, pokemon had to be simultaneously aware of their partner and their two opponents. The trainers had to keep the entire battlefield and the four pokemon in perspective. It was a style of battling that required much more thought and strategy than singles battling.

Ethan didn't care, though. He and his friends were determined to win, no matter the challenge.

Espy and Dancer appeared on the ground in a flash of light. Although Tricky was more experienced than Dancer, Ethan couldn't send the ghost type out with Espy. Until Tricky evolved into a Haunter and learned to control its ghostly energies and poisonous gases, its mere presence would have an adverse effect on Espy, especially if Tricky was actively using its abilities in battle. "Guys, this is a doubles battle," said Ethan, as the two pokemon looked at each other and then at Ethan. "You're going to have to work together to beat this guy."

Dancer squeaked happily and hopped back and forth. Espy hummed her understanding and turned to face the opposing trainer, who had just released his own pokemon. A yellow furred Pikachu and a tough looking Poliwhirl appeared on the other end of the field. The Pikachu's cheeks sparked with electricity as it readied its body for attack. Poliwhirl stepped forward, partially blocking Pikachu as it assumed a battle stance.

"Espy, use Confusion. Try to catch both of them." A wave of psychic energy rippled across the field from Espy's outstretched spoon.

"Poliwhirl, bubblebeam! Pikachu, use thunderbolt!" The Poliwhirl released a torrent of bubbles from its mouth, meeting the psychic attack in the center of the road and causing both attacks to explode in a bright flash of light and water. Pikachu growled and launched an intense bolt of electricity at Dancer and Espy, who quickly raised a psychic barrier and blocked the attack.

Ethan's mind raced. Poliwhirl seemed to be the wall of the duo, blocking hits and able to do close combat work for its partner Pikachu, who looked more like a ranged fighter. If his pokemon focused their attacks on Poliwhirl, who didn't look like it was able to really dodge very well, then Pikachu would fall shortly after.

"Espy, lock Poliwhirl with confusion!" said Ethan now. "Dancer, hit him with dazzling gleam."

Espy's spoon bent slightly as she channeled an intense amount of psychic energy through her focus and straight towards Poliwhirl, who was quickly surrounded by a blue aura and struggled to move even a finger. Dancer raised a single digit and, with days of practice behind her, fired off a bright pink beam of light at Poliwhirl.

Which was immediately countered with a blast of electricity that met the fairy attack in mid-air, dissipating the beam of energy. "Poliwhirl, Pikachu," said the teenager, recognizing the threat. "Wave Current!"

Poliwhirl stopped struggling and immediately began to spout a deluge of water from its mouth. Espy blocked the water with her barrier, allowing the attack to wash around her and Dancer. Pikachu suddenly leapt high into the air and released a bolt of electricity straight into the water-covered ground.

"Teleport!" Ethan shouted as he realized the danger. "Now!"

Pikachu's attack rippled across the ground, conducted by the water left by Poliwhirl. As the electricity sparked towards Espy and Dancer, the psychic raised her spoon and both of them vanished from existence, leaving the electric strike with no target as it dissipated upon reaching dry ground.

Poliwhirl dropped to the ground, freed from its psychic prison. An instant later, Espy and Dancer seamlessly reentered the physical dimension, right behind their two opponents. Before the pokemon could notice or their trainer could react, Espy launched a wave of psychic energy that crashed into both pokemon, blasting Pikachu halfway across the field and knocking Poliwhirl to the ground. The water type quickly staggered to its feet, only to be blasted again by a dazzling gleam from Dancer. Poliwhirl shook and struggled to stay on its feet. Dancer leapt forward and landed atop the water type, bringing him down to the ground.

Pikachu recovered now, its fur sparking dangerously as it stalked its two opponents warily. The sandy-haired teenager recalled Poliwhirl, frowning. "Volt Tackle on the Clefairy!" said the trainer determinedly. "Bring at least one of them down."

The Pikachu growled, and suddenly the rodent was alight in a cocoon of electric sparks, nearly blinding Ethan. The electric type barked and dashed forward faster than Ethan could react, a literal living bolt of lightning as it streaked across the ground. Espy launched a flurry of psychic energy at the Pikachu, and Dancer used two fingers to fire off an intense beam of light. Both attacks met the Volt Tackle and exploded in a cascading blaze of electricity and energy. A rumble boomed across the field, and Ethan had to keep his eyes hidden behind his arm for several seconds until his vision finally returned to normal. He lowered his arm.

From where the Pikachu had first launched its attack to where Pikachu had been struck by Espy and Dancer's attacks, a trail of scorched earth lay steaming from the electric type's Volt Tackle. Pikachu lay twitching in the middle of the road, its fur slightly blackened from the amount of intersecting energies in which it had been immersed. A ring of scorched earth surrounded the electric type.

Ethan exhaled. "Great job, guys." He crouched down to meet Dancer, and more or less Espy, at eye level. "You guys did amazing for your first real doubles battle."

Dancer squeaked happily at him, and Espy simply said nothing, though her eyes seemed to smile at him. Ethan stood up just as the sandy haired teenager walked over to him.

"Great battle," said the teenager with no apparent ill will at all. "Your pokemon are pretty strong."

"Yeah," said Ethan, looking down at them. "They are."

The teenager handed his winnings over to Ethan and left after bading him goodbye. Ethan returned his two friends and moved over to the side of the road where Lyra had been watching the battle.

"Pretty good for your first doubles battle," said Lyra, nodding. "You want to let your pokemon have a rest before we move on?"

"Nah, that battle didn't really wear them out," Ethan replied, slipping another pokeball into his hand, this one slightly darker than the rest. "We can keep moving. Besides, Tricky's still fresh."

"I definitely get the next battles," said Lyra, rolling her eyes. "You have battled the last four trainers. Nimbus has barely gotten to battle anyone, and I'm pretty sure Phoenix will go crazy if I leave her in her pokeball any longer."

"Well, I do need to teach my team some new techniques," said Ethan slowly. "They could use a bit more firepower."

"Exactly."

Ethan feigned sighing. "Fine. I guess your pokemon do need to catch up to my friends."

Lyra punched him in the shoulder. "Come on, let's go."

…

Ethan had never been in a city this large. His mother had taken him to Violet City occasionally, but for the most part he had stayed in their secluded side of Johto all his life. The population of New Bark Town? Just over one hundred people, making New Bark Town one of the least populated towns in the Johto region. True, it was home to the lab of Professor Elm, one of the world's foremost experts on Pokemon evolutionary theory and egg research, but aside from that, New Bark Town didn't have much else to offer.

The population of Goldenrod City? Numbered in the tens of thousands.

Most of that number lived on the edges of the great city in the suburbs and the residential districts. Even so, the number was staggering to Ethan. Their walk through the main highway through the city took them past movie theaters, massive department stores, bookstores, trainer shops, casinos, and so much more. Fortunately for the duo, Lyra had thought to purchase a map of the city from one of the roadside inns they had passed on their way to Goldenrod proper. Thus, it only took them around twenty minutes to find the Pokemon Center near the southern side of the city.

The Goldenrod Pokemon Center was large. It had to be, in order to accommodate the literal hundreds of trainers that passed through the city every day. Goldenrod was the largest city in the Johto region, and it sat near the nexus of traffic in Johto just some miles north of the city. Thus, Ethan was sufficiently overwhelmed by the time they reached the counter to meet a young nurse attending the station.

"Hi, I'm Nurse Ellen," said the cheerful nurse. "You two look like you've been traveling a long ways."

"Yeah," said Ethan, suddenly aware of the distance they had gone. His body was beginning to ache. "We're just looking for two rooms for a couple of nights."

"Okay," said Ellen, her fingers flying across the keyboard of the computer behind the counter. "Trainer ID?"

Ethan and Lyra told the nurse their information, and soon the nurse had put them in for two rooms. "You'll be staying rooms 315 and 316," she informed them, handing the two trainers a pair of key cards. "There are stairs on your left, or you can take the elevators on your left behind my station. Enjoy your stay in Goldenrod, Mr. Rider and Ms. Kotone."

"Thank you," said the both of them, and they both headed up to their rooms. On their way there, Ethan passed by all sorts of different people. All of them trainers. There were younger types, similar to himself, with bright expressions on their faces and young pokemon traveling at their sides. There were older types, like a graying-haired man in a brown suit with a Drowzee following him from behind. There were strange types, like a pair of giggling girls wearing bubblegum pink clothing with multiple buttons and flair. They each carried a cute little Pichu in their hands as they passed them in their hallway.

"They don't really look like trainers," said Ethan, raising an eyebrow after they had passed out of earshot.

"Those girls were probably Contest coordinators," said Lyra as they stopped in front of their rooms.

"Contest what?" said Ethan confusedly.

Lyra looked at him strangely until she suddenly chuckled. "Sorry, I sometimes forget that the only thing you pay attention to is battling. Pokemon Contests. You know, the competitions where people and pokemon dress up and perform to impress a panel of judges and the audience?"

Ethan frowned. He had heard of Contests before, but as Lyra had aptly put it, he didn't really pay much attention to those type of events. Certainly, he had never considered it before himself. "I think so."

Lyra waved a hand at him. "Forget it. Just stick to battling, Ethan. It's the probably the best for you."

Ethan shook his head. "So are you planning on going out?"

Lyra outright laughed at him. "Are you kidding me? As soon as I get inside this room, I'm going to sack out on the bed. I am _tired_."

"Well, I think I'm going to go out and explore," said Ethan, shrugging as he unlocked his door.

"Suit yourself," said Lyra, yawning a bit. "Try not to get lost. It's a big city."

"We'll see."

Twenty minutes later, Ethan had thoroughly immersed himself in the hustle and bustle of Goldenrod City. He was standing in the middle of a shopping plaza filled with more shops than he had ever seen in one place in his life. And, just across the road was quite possibly the largest building he had ever seen.

The Goldenrod Complex stood three stories high, but end to end spanned longer and farther than Ethan could see. Goldenrod architecture generally followed modern trends, with straight lines and conservative colors predominating the style of most structures in the city. The Goldenrod Complex was different. Instead of a flat roof, the Complex had a curved dome-like roof, made up of almost entirely glass skylights and steel support beams. The building was colored with soft yellows and oranges, giving off a much more lively air around the Complex than its surroundings.

Inside, the Goldenrod Complex seemed even bigger. The storefronts were arranged circularly around a single open space that opened up to the rooftop skylights, allowing Ethan to see into every floor from one point in the center of the mall. Escalators facilitated travel through the floors, and a set of elevators against one of the main support beams for the building were positioned on the edge of the inner circle. Bright lights from the stores and the mall itself assailed Ethan's eyes, and he found himself rubbing his eyes every minute or so to adjust.

While there were certainly many stores that catered specifically to trainers, Ethan made a beeline for the TM stores. While he did know how to shop for himself, he didn't need clothes, he was too young to purchase wines and alcoholic drinks, and he didn't need accessories for himself or his pokemon. What he did need were traveling supplies, but he could find those just about anywhere. No, what Ethan wanted was much harder to find: TMs.

Technical Machines, or TMs, were invented by a Silph corporation research team. The process was patented, and therefore unknown to the general public, though it involved the use of psychics and specially made material that could store psychic energy. Thus, they were difficult, if not impossible, to manufacture without the Silph process and only certain stores, like the Pokemart, were licensed to sell them.

TMs allowed pokemon to learn moves and acquire abilities that they otherwise would not have been able to learn on their own. Clefable, for instance, could not learn Psychic on their own, though they had the potential. With a TM, Ethan could teach Dancer the move Psychic, though he would probably end up having Espy teach her instead of purchasing an expensive TM.

Ethan found himself mesmerized by the rows and rows of TMs in one of the glass display case of Silph TMs, the official carrier of TMs. There were so many options, ranging from simple moves to complicated moves and from physical abilities to energy-based abilities. He looked at one particular disc, a solid blood red color: Fire Blast.

It cost $5500.

_That__'__s__… __a lot. _Ethan shook his head, as if he could clear his vision and the price would change. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't battling nearly enough trainers, or more experienced ones at that, to be able to make that kind of money easily. Ethan suspected that it would take at least another month or two for him to be comfortable with spending that kind of money on a single TM. He looked for other options.

Protect was a possible candidate. Most pokemon could learn the move; it more or less relied on the latent energy that pokemon drew their power from anyways. Using Protect, though, had its drawbacks; while the move was a quick and solid way to defend against a sudden attack, the process of drawing the energy out and using it as a direct shield against an attack was inefficient by most standards and often tired out the user. In any case, seeing the value in having an emergency fallback move, Ethan bought the Protect TM for a little over $1000.

The second TM he bought was Double Team. The technique allowed the user to produce several copies of itself that would confuse its opponent. Most pokemon had rudimentary ways to differentiate the clones from the original; the clones usually didn't have a smell that pokemon with trained noses could detect, the clones often had flickers or flaws that resulted from imperfect use of the technique, and the clones didn't weigh anything, allowing pokemon that could detect vibrations or tremors in the ground to divulge the location of the user. However, a pokemon that had mastered Double Team could alleviate all of these issues by creating more realistic clones. Ethan had remembered seeing a Hypno on television that could produce a hundred clones, each as seemingly real as the original.

Ethan pocketed the TMs with satisfaction, though he was a bit down at the mouth at how much the techniques had cost him. Having finished his business inside the Goldenrod Complex, Ethan headed outside now, where he would likely leave the city to go have his pokemon learn the new moves.

A ring pierced the air. Ethan looked around a bit before he realized that the ring was emanating from inside his pocket. He dug inside his pocket and pulled out his phone with a blink; he had forgotten he even had one. He answered the call. "Hello?"

"Hey, Ethan," came Lyra's voice over the speaker. She sounded a lot more chipper and alert than when he had left her back at the Pokemon Center. "I just woke up and decided that I wanted to explore the city a bit. Where are you?"

"I just left the Goldenrod Complex," said Ethan, looking around as if he could see Lyra in the crowds forming outside of the giant mall.

"Okay, cool, you're not actually that far. I want to check out this restaurant called the Goldenrod Garden. It's a pretty famous place, and it's supposed to have really good curries."

"Well," said Ethan, thinking about it. "I'm not really a fan of spicy food…but since we're here, I might as well try it."

"Awesome. Meet you there in about twenty minutes."

"Okay."

Half of an hour later, Ethan and Lyra were sitting in the seating area just outside of the restaurant. The Goldenrod Garden interior had gone for a more classy look, with dark oak wood floors and lanterns providing lighting around the restaurant. The seating area was cordoned off by a wrought-iron fence. The tables were made of the same metal. Red-and-white umbrellas hung over each table, providing shade from the bright afternoon sun. Ethan thought that they were more of an affectation than actual protection from the elements, but since the sun wasn't getting in his eyes, he couldn't really complain.

"Their Hoenn classic curry is really good," said Lyra as she quickly dug through her meal. "What do you think?"

Ethan set down his third glass of water in five minutes, half of the drink already gone. "I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you through my water," said Ethan. He ducked underneath a quick swat from Lyra. "I mean, the curry is pretty good, but like I told you, I can't really handle spicy food. Forgive me if I'm _uncultured_."

Lyra rolled her eyes. "Well, I can say that I tried to get you to enjoy the finer parts of life."

Ethan was about to retort when he felt something brush his leg. At first he thought it was Dancer, who had busied herself staring straight into one of the dim lanterns behind him, but the touch had felt lighter, softer than her usual poke. Hair?

He looked down. A orange-and-cream colored ball of fur was sniffing the ground around his feet. Its back was striped with black strips of fur and when it looked up at him, it had a small muzzle and bright amber eyes. The Growlithe sat on its haunches and looked at him expectantly, its tail wagging slightly behind its body.

"Aw, how cute!" said Lyra as she spotted the Growlithe underneath their table.

"Yeah, he is," said Ethan as he picked up one of the pieces of meat in his curry and held it out in front of the Growlithe. The dog cautiously sniffed the meat in his hand and, after a moment, quickly lapping it up with its tongue. The Growlithe stuck out its tongue and panted happily, clearly wanting more. Ethan smiled in spite of himself and fed the Growlithe more of his meal. After several bites, the dog was satisfied and nudged against his leg, contented.

"Well, since the opportunity is _right_ here," said Ethan as he pulled out his Pokedex and aimed it at the Growlithe. The encyclopedia whirred and beeped as it located the Growlithe's data within its databanks and compiled it with the data from its scan. Then Dexter began to speak. "_Growlithe, the puppy pokemon. Male. It has a brave and trustworthy nature. It fearlessly stands up to bigger and stronger foes. This Growlithe knows the moves tackle, bite, ember, flame wheel, and iron tail. Its ability is Flash Fire, which makes this Pokemon immune to fire-type moves and will increase the power of this Pokemon__'__s fire moves if struck by fire_."

"You're a tough little guy, aren't you?" said Ethan, looking at the small fire type before him. He had blinked at the mention of iron tail, but he guessed that one of his parents had known the technique. Iron tail was a powerful steel-type classified move that allowed the user to focus its energy into a single limb, its tail, rendering the limb very strong and very dense. It could shatter stone with ease, and in some cases even steel, depending on the user. Ethan really doubted that Growlithe could use Iron Tail, seeing as the pokemon was so young, but it meant that Growlithe had the potential to learn the move. And that in of itself was valuable.

"You want to be part of my team, Growlithe?" Ethan asked the dog, which was sitting on its haunches now. The Growlithe cocked its head as it stared at him, as if it was pondering the idea. Then the Growlithe hopped to its feet and nudged his leg, barking once. Ethan started at the sudden sound and quickly looked around before laughing quietly. "Okay, I'll take that as a yes."

"He's so cute," said Lyra, still looking at the Growlithe from her side of the table. "If you didn't want him, he'd be with me already!"

"Sorry, got to be quicker," said Ethan, and looked at Growlithe. "So, what am I going to call you? Do you want a name?"

A quick nod and more panting. Ethan thought carefully about this one. He thought that he had rushed the last names a bit, so he sat back a bit, frowning. A million possibilities like Flamer and Inferno came to mind, but none of them were really creative. And they seemed a bit uncharacteristic of the bright and chipper dog before him. Two minutes passed before the name finally hit him. "Agni?"

The Growlithe whuffed at him, panting happily as Ethan registered his new pokemon in his Pokedex. He quickly withdrew a pokeball from his belt and held it out towards the dog. Before he could do anything else, Agni leaned forward and touched the capture sensor on the pokeball, opening the device and "capturing" him. Ethan blinked and chuckled as he registered the pokeball onto his trainer ID now. After a minute, he released Agni, who nudged his leg upon seeing again, prompting a laugh from the young trainer.

"Hey, Dancer," Ethan called out towards the fairy type, who was now prancing around one of the lantern posts, simply delighted by the glowing ball of light. Dancer leapt over to them in a single bound and stopped to stare inquisitively at the fire type.

"Agni, this is Dancer. Dancer, this is Agni, the newest addition to our team." Agni barked its greeting at Dancer, who squeaked and tapped on the Growlithe's nose in return, causing the fire type to quickly shake its head. As the two continued to interact, Ethan turned back to Lyra. "So what's next?"

Lyra shrugged. "The tunnels beneath Goldenrod are supposed to be a great place for battling. At least, that's what I've heard around the Pokemon Center."

A smile tugged at Ethan's lips. Exploring the city had been great, but now it was time to get back to what he did best. It was time to battle.

….

"Try it out, Espy."

The Kadabra concentrated and a blue aura emanated from her skin. A second later, three more Kadabras appeared on either side of Espy. The psychic lowered her spoon, and the others did the same. Then she dropped the technique and the clones disappeared, the energies dissipating as they were released from her psychic control.

"Awesome," said Ethan, grinning. "I knew you'd get it fast." The young trainer looked around at his team. TMs had come far since their origin. In the past, TMs were limited in their use, only being able to impart knowledge of an ability to one pokemon before becoming completely unusable. Now, as technology had grown and made progress in the last few years, commercial TMs had a cap at three uses before they stopped working. Ethan had taught the technique to Tricky, Dancer, and Espy, seeing as they were currently the most fragile of his team and could use the technique to greatly enhance their move pool and abilities in battle.

Ethan returned his friends one by one and turned towards the open tunnel before them. "Now we're ready."

The Goldenrod Underground was the premiere battleground of Goldenrod. In the distant past, a river system had divided what was now the largest city in Johto in half. The city had slowly grown around the river, building bridges and forming a bustling port city in the Feudal Era of Johto. Then the river running through the city itself dried up, leaving only dry sand in its place. Goldenrod was forced to switch its main ports to the river running adjacent to the city, and the riverbed within the city was paved over. The bridges remained, and eventually expanded to become whole streets. Over time, the area was covered by the streets and became a massive tunnel underneath the city. In the modern era? The original riverbed formed the Goldenrod Underground, where trainers of all skill levels came to battle and test their mettle in the largest hub of traffic in the Johto Region.

Most of the trainers in the Goldenrod Underground were travelers simply passing through the city. There were some, though, that lived in Goldenrod and had obviously been battling for a while. Ethan and Lyra encountered some of these trainers when Ethan had noticed a large crowd towards the middle of the Underground. Ethan, being all of twelve, strained to see over the heads of the crowd. "I can't see," said Ethan finally, stepping down. "Let's try to find out way to the front."

Threading their way through the ground, it took them half of a minute to reach the center. The crowd had formed a circle with a twenty meter radius. There were four people in the center, big burly biker types with ripped sleeves and rugged jeans. Three of them stood towards the edge of the circle. One of them stood in front of his compatriots, his face marked with a wide smirk. "Lickitung, wrap up this pathetic excuse for a pokemon."

A pink, bulbous pokemon with a shiny bald head stood in front of its trainer. Its beady black eyes blinked as it suddenly opened its mouth and extended a long, wide pink tongue towards its opponent, a Chikorita. The grass type squealed and tried to run away, but the tongue was too fast; it quickly latched around Chikorita's body and quickly began to constrict the small pokemon. A few seconds later, the Chikorita was returned in a red beam of light by its trainer, a young boy with a blue cap on his head and a disappointed expression on his face.

"Go back to school, kid!" said the burly trainer, laughing low and hard. "You've got a lot to learn. The Underground is for big boys only. Now hand me my cash."

The trainer handed over the winnings to the burly trainer, who began to count the bills as soon as they landed on his open palms. The young boy disappeared into the crowds. Ethan frowned and found himself unconsciously stepping towards the four trainers. The burly man patted Lickitung on its bald head and looked out towards the rest of the crowd. "Who else wants to battle the Gold Four? We've all got one pokemon each. A thousand and five hundred dollars to anyone who can beat all four of us in a row!"

"I'll do it," said Ethan, stepping forward into the ring. He didn't know what motivated him to battle these obviously experienced trainers, but he never backed down from a challenge.

The burly man looked at him for a moment before laughing hard. "We're getting nothing but kids today," he guffawed. "I'll give you a chance to step out, little boy. I don't like taking easy money."

"Neither do I," said Ethan, the words falling out of his mouth faster than he could think. "Maybe I should battle your friends instead of you?"

One of the biker types, slightly bigger than the two that flanked his sides, chuckled. "You've got a mouth on you, kid," said the Lickitung's trainer, examining the young trainer closely now. "Let's see what you've got."

Ethan released Agni, who barked as soon as he was released. It stood determinedly in front of Ethan a fearless protector of its master.

The burly trainer laughed again. "You brought a cute puppy to slaughterhouse, kid. Lickitung, wipe that mutt off the field."

The normal type stepped forward and turned to the side before suddenly whirling around, bringing its long tongue whipping towards Agni in a wide arc.

"Agni, jump and use Ember!" Ethan shouted, and the Growlithe complied. As the tongue whistled towards the dog, Agni jumped over the tongue and spat out a stream of red-hot embers from its mouth, battering Lickitung with its attack.

"Wrap it up now!" the burly trainer snarled, and Lickitung's tongue suddenly stopped its sweep as it arced upwards and then downwards towards the Growlithe. Agni dodged the attack and spat embers at Lickitung again, this time nailing the normal type in the face, causing the pokemon to recoil from the attack.

"Fire wheel, Agni," Ethan ordered. Agni rushed towards the Lickitung while it was still rubbing at its burned face and released fire from its mouth, which whipped around the Growlithe as the dog sprinted towards the normal type. At the last second, Agni leapt into the air and curled into itself, a living ball of fire as it sailed through the air and crashed bodily into Lickitung, knocking the normal type back and skidding across the ground. Lickitung slowly began to get to its feet, but another ember attack from Agni knocked it out for good.

"Good job, Agni!" said Ethan, and he meant it. Considering that it was the Growlithe's first official battle, Ethan hadn't really expected such a clean win.

The Growlithe whuffed back at him, pleased at the praise from its trainer. The burly trainer returned the Lickitung just as one of his compatriots laid a hand on his shoulder. "Can't believe you lost to a little boy, man," said the trainer, chuckling as he stepped forward.

"He got lucky," the burly man snarled, stepping towards the back. "Beat him."

The second trainer released his pokemon. A yellow dumpy figure appeared in front of the biker trainer, its eyes looking at Agni sleepily. Ethan wasn't fooled, though. He knew that this pokemon was dangerous, despite its unassuming looks.

Drowzee took another step towards Growlithe, and slowly began to raise its hands. "Agni, use ember now!" Ethan shouted.

Agni spat fire from its mouth, which arced across the field and crashed into a psychic shield erected by the Drowzee. Agni kept up the attack, pounding on the psychic barriers with its embers. As the attack continued to be repelled by Drowzee, the psychic type slowly raised one hand and extended it towards the dog. Agni yelped as it was suddenly lifted into the air by invisible forces, struggling against the grip that Drowzee now held it in.

"Keep up the ember attack!" said Ethan, and Agni fired more embers at Drowzee. As the psychic shield began to show its first cracks in its defense, Drowzee's digits flicked downward and Agni sailed to the ground with a _smack_, abruptly cutting off the attack. Agni shook its head and attempted to fire more embers at the psychic, only for the Drowzee to swing its fingers down and slam Agni into the ground again. The Growlithe struggled to get to its feet, growling weakly at the Drowzee, who continued to stare at the fire type impassively. Ethan was about to recall Agni when the fire type barked back at him, shaking its head vigorously. Ethan blinked as Agni suddenly rushed towards the Drowzee, spitting embers from its mouth. Drowzee's shield blocked the attacks again, and the psychic batted the dog to the side with a wave of its hand. Agni whined but didn't get back up again.

Ethan returned his newest pokemon. "You won't give up, will you?" he whispered to the pokeball, which seemed to warm up in response. He looked back at the trainer, who shrugged at the amazing resilience of the Growlithe. "Your puppy was tough," said the big man. "But you can't handle Drowzee. I've got years on you, kid."

Ethan raised an eyebrow and twirled another pokeball in his hand now. He had wanted to test out the newest addition to his team, and he did. Agni had done wonderfully. But he was done messing around.

Tricky cackled as it was released, swooping around the tunnel before coming to a stop in front of Ethan. The Gastly grinned as it noticed the Drowzee, emitting a low, dark chuckle that caused shivers to run down his back. The Drowzee's trainer frowned but didn't say anything. Neither did Ethan. There wasn't much to say.

"Drowzee, shut it down with Confusion," the biker ordered, the Drowzee quickly launched a flurry of psychic energy towards the ghost, who easily dodged the attack as it raced towards its prey, a trail of noxious gas in its wake. Tricky cackled and swooped high into the air before arcing down towards the Drowzee, who quickly erected another barrier to stop the ghost. Tricky's body crashed into the construct and almost instantly melted through it its ghostly energies easily destroying the psychic shield. Then Tricky was upon Drowzee, engulfing the psychic with its body. Between the ghostly energies and poisonous gases that made up the Gastly's form, Drowzee was unconscious in seconds.

Ethan nodded in satisfaction. As expected, Tricky had had no issues whatsoever. The ghostly energies that formed its body, combined with Tricky's speed and agility, had been too much for Drowzee.

The second trainer gritted his teeth as the third trainer, a portly, bald-headed man, stepped up to the challenge. "No one's ever beaten two of us," he said, his breath harsh as even the slightest movement took effort to move his large body. "But you ain't going to get any further than me, kid."

The fat man released his pokemon. Three spheres of metal slowly levitated into the air, held aloft by the creature's manipulation of electromagnetism. Three sets of eyes stared Tricky down, who quickly spun around in the air and stuck its tongue out at the Magneton.

"Be serious, Tricky," said Ethan, frowning. "This one looks tough." Magneton were made up of three fused Magnemite. Like their pre-evolution, they were made up entirely of steel and used their powerful magnets to maneuver and launch their attacks. They were tough, and they were powerful. Magneton had access to a dangerous move pool and could actually maneuver around pretty quickly, despite the heavy steel that composed their bodies. Their unique chemical makeup meant that Tricky's poison wouldn't even affect them, though the Gastly's ghost abilities would still work. Tricky had beaten the Magnemite back in the cave because it had surprised it. It wouldn't be so easy this time, especially since they were facing the evolved form.

"You can't just rush it," said Ethan as he stared at the Magneton, which simply just stared back at him. "Your poison can't touch it. Dodge its attacks, try to catch it off guard. If you manage to stun it, then you can move in."

And with no further instructions, Tricky grinned and immediately took to the air, high above Magneton.

"You haven't got a ghost of a chance, kid," said the fat man, chuckling. "Magneton, lock on and tri-bolt."

The electric type whirred and beeped as all three of its eyes flashed red and locked in on Tricky's wispy form. Then each of the three magnets sticking out of the sides of the Magneton sparked with electricity before they each released a thin bolt of electricity towards the Gastly. Tricky dodged the first bolt, then quickly evaded the next bolt, and just barely managed to swoop underneath the last bolt as it reached attacking range of the Magneton. The ghost type's form darkened as Tricky suddenly released a wave of ghostly energy towards the electric type, which shuddered as the Night Shade passed through its form.

After a moment, Magneton renewed its assault and quickly began to fire off more and more thunderbolts at Tricky, who dodged each bolt but was just a hair slower each time. Ethan gritted his teeth. With the sheer volume and fire rate of the attacks, Tricky couldn't get a hit in. And sooner or later, Magneton would hit its target and cripple the ghost.

It was time for Ethan to reveal the fruits of his latest training with the ghost. "Tricky, hit him with Confuse Ray!"

Tricky slowed down just barely as the Gastly began to channel the extra-dimensional energies needed to form the technique. In a few seconds, Tricky had formed a small but dense ball of strangely colored light and held it in place in front of itself.

Only for a bolt of lightning to strike Tricky directly in the center of its forehead. Tricky looked for surprised for the briefest of moments before the ghost dissipated into a cloud of purple. Ethan sighed. They had been so close to forming the Confuse Ray. Unlike conventional ghost type techniques, which drew from the pre-existing energies a ghost had in place in order to maintain a corporeal form in the physical dimension, Confuse Ray drew power from the other dimension, a direct line to the strange and twisted energies that ghost types used to function. The energies would scramble the minds of any pokemon that came into contact with the attack, though dark types were able to resist the energies to a certain extent. It was a very potent attack, but, unfortunately for them, Tricky had only learned the move a few days ago based on instructional videos they had watched. It took the ghost at least a couple of seconds to muster the energy, and even launching the attack took time. Ethan sighed and pulled out his pokeball, ready to return Tricky once he had reformed.

Whispers from the crowd interrupted his thoughts. He looked around as the most of the crowd continued to look towards the ceiling. His head came up.

The gases that had resulted from Tricky's dissolution were swirling in a vortex of purple. Ethan frowned. When Tricky reformed, it was usually a quick process that nothing more than the gases condensing and contracting until they solidified into the Gastly form. This was decidedly different.

The gases darkened until they were nearly black. A wave of unseen energy rippled across the tunnel, and Ethan had to shake off a sudden outbreak of goosebumps that had come up out of nowhere. The gases slowly began to contract, but instead of the usual sphere that Ethan had come to know as Tricky's form, the gases formed an entirely different shape. Two smaller puffs of gas began to coalesce just outside the main cloud, and those shaped into something resembling hands. The main collection of gases solidified, and the now solidly dark cloud opened up to reveal a familiar pink tongue as it extended out. Two large spots of white rimmed with red appeared on the gas cloud, and the ghost turned its malicious stare towards the Magneton, which had continued to blankly stare at Tricky throughout the entire process.

Tricky had evolved into a Haunter.

Ethan's resulting grin threatened to split his face. "Tricky, hit him with Confuse Ray!"

The fat man stared at the ghost for another stunned second before the words suddenly hit him. "Wait, Magneton! Get him with thunderbolt now!"

As Magneton's sides began to spark with electricity once more, Tricky cackled and flew up towards the ceiling before disappearing into the shadows. Magneton fired its thunderbolts, all of which struck empty air as its target vanished. Magneton whirred and slowly rotated around as it began to search for its opponent. Then, out of the corner of Ethan's vision, a shadow that looked too _solid_ began to ripple and formed Tricky's figure as the ghost type ascended from the darkness. With Tricky's evolution came the ability to travel through shadows and cloak in darkness, and the Haunter was taking full advantage of its new abilities. A small sphere of colorful lights appeared in Tricky's "hands" as the Haunter formed the Confuse Ray. A second later, Tricky launched its attack, striking the Magneton in the back before the electric type could even notice. The Magneton beeped and began to shudder as the ghostly energies scrambled its mind, causing the electric type to dip and weave in the air.

"No!" the fat man yelled as his pokemon began to spin around in confusion. "Magneton, cut it out! Use Thunderbolt!"

But the Magneton was completely unresponsive to its trainer's calls and continued to malfunction. Tricky dashed forward with terrifying speed and loomed over the Magneton, which was still completely unaware of its surroundings or the impending danger. Tricky's hands descended into the Magneton's body, which stiffened as Tricky's tongue also wrapped around the electric type. Seconds later, the Magneton emitted a low beep as it crashed to the ground, its control of electromagnetism failing from the assault.

"Yes!" Ethan shouted even as the other trainer cried out in despair. Tricky grinned and vanished into the shadows. Ethan had just a second to blink before a rush of cold passed through him. Tricky reappeared behind him with its hands outstretched next to his head, cackling. Ethan rolled his eyes. "Maybe this wasn't such a great thing after all," he joked, and the ghost flipped over his head, relishing in its newfound power and control over its energy.

The fat man was silent as he retreated to the back of the crowd. The fourth and final man stepped forward now, slowly clapping for the young trainer. This man was taller and leaner than his compatriots, the muscles in his arms and chest well defined. He ran a hand over his short hair as he appraised Ethan. "Not bad for a kid," he said, his voice deep. "My boys have been battling for years. I honestly am really surprised that you've beaten them—and with only two pokemon, too. I think this is going to be a really good battle."

A flash of light. The air temperature in the tunnels suddenly cranked up a few degrees as the man released his next pokemon: a Magmar. The fire type stood just barely over four feet tall, and its body blazed with fire and power with every step it took. The Magmar sneered at Tricky, which stuck its tongue out in return.

Ethan grimaced. The last Magmar he had fought had left his team in ashes. To be fair, that Magmar had belonged to a five badge trainer while his team had only been formed after four weeks. The circumstances were a bit different here, but would they be enough to tip the scales?

"My boys made a mistake in underestimating you," said the man as he raised one hand into the air. "I won't."

Magmar roared and released a stream of flames into the air, bathing the ceiling in fire. Ethan gritted his teeth as the heat wave rushed over him, easily eliminating the cold that had passed over his body from Tricky's presence. Magmar's head snapped down and suddenly spat a torrent of fire towards Tricky, who flew to the side to dodge the attack. Tricky chuckled and released another wave of ghostly energy from its hands, a Night Shade attack substantially more powerful than it had been able to form before. Magmar swept its head to the right and the flamethrower met the night shade in the middle, causing both attacks to explode in a ball of flame and shadows.

A second later, Tricky appeared behind the fire type, hands outstretched to constrict it, only for Magmar to whirl around and release a massive gout of flame from its mouth, bathing the pokemon in fire.

"Tricky!" Ethan shouted. Magmar continued to pour fire towards the ghost for several more seconds before it finally cut off the attack. The ground in front of the Magmar was completely scorched, charred black as deep as a foot into the ground. Black smoke trails continued to waver upward from the inferno that Magmar had released into the tunnel. The fire type stomped a shackled foot onto the ground and shot a tower of flame towards the ceiling, its display of dominance clear in the Magmar's raised arms and wide posture.

Ethan sighed. Magmar and its kind were powerful, beyond anything Ethan had encountered so far. Even Tricky's timely evolution hadn't been enough to tip the scales. His eyes scanned the tunnel as he looked for the remnants of the ghost, where it would reform momentarily. His eyes stopped just next to the Magmar's head, where a familiar cloud of purple began to form.

Ethan's eyes widened just as two dark purple clawed hands reached out from the poison cloud and wrapped around the Magmar's face, completely blocking the fire type's vision. Magmar suddenly stopped its celebration and immediately spewed a gout of fire from its mouth in attempt to shake off the ghost. Tricky's head appeared now, and its mouth was stretched in a wicked grin as the ghost wrapped its body around Magmar's head, just above its mouth and the dangerous flamethrower. Ethan winced at the intense temperatures that Tricky must have been feeling, but he knew that it was nothing compared to the damage Magmar would be taking. Haunter and its evolutionary line were comprised of extra-dimensional energies and poison. Thus, aside from the myriad of abilities they were capable of learning and using, one of their primary methods of attack was often using the natural weapons their bodies possessed. In a sacrificial gambit, Tricky was subjecting Magmar to a cloud of poison and scrambling its mind with its ghost energies.

Magmar was going crazy. The fire type screamed in pain as Tricky mercilessly tore at its mind and body. The Magmar was blasting flames left and right at invisible foes, releasing so much heat that Ethan had to turn away slightly as the skin on his face began to tingle from the ambient air temperature. Then the screaming stopped, and Ethan looked back.

Tricky had slipped away from its grip on the Magmar, and now lay on the ground before him, exhausted. Magmar only looked slightly better; the fire type's face was blackened, and its eyes were rimmed with dark purple lines. One hand was braced against the ground for support. Magmar was finished, even if it didn't even recognize it itself.

Tricky looked up at Ethan with tired eyes and emitted a low chuckle. Ethan smiled a little before returning the ghost back to its pokeball. "You were amazing," said Ethan as he slipped the pokeball back into his belt and retrieved his last one.

Espy appeared on the field now. The psychic gazed impassively at the destruction on the field and the almost prostrate Magmar on the ground. _I sense energies not native to this world. Might I assume the ghost was just present?_

_ Good guess_, Ethan thought, grinning. _It__'__s time to finish this._

Espy fixed her stare on the Magmar, who had managed to stagger to its feet. The fire type growled and spat a weak tongue of flame into the air, defiant until the end. Espy's eyes shined with power as she prepared her attack, the air around her beginning to shimmer with power.

"Hit that Kadabra with Flamethrower, Magmar," growled the Magmar's trainer, though it sounded half-hearted. "Give it all you got."

Ethan felt a pulse of amusement in his mind as the Magmar roared and launched a stream of fire from its outstretched palms, which streaked across the field and straight towards Espy. Ethan blinked, and the psychic vanished, leaving nothing for the flamethrower to hit as it uselessly bathed the ground where Espy once stood. An instant later, a powerful Psybeam struck Magmar in the back as Espy reappeared behind the fire type. Magmar collapsed onto the ground and didn't get back up.

_Scarcely a challenge._

_ Sometimes it__'__s nice to enjoy the easy victories_, Ethan thought back. A clap interrupted his thoughts, and Ethan blinked as applause begun to erupt from the crowd, who had been intently watching the four-fold battle.

"Good job, kid!"

"They're starting out so young."

"I can't believe that a kid just beat these guys!"

"Awesome battle!"

"That was a pretty good battle, Ethan," said Lyra as she tapped him on the shoulder. "I'm going to have to step up my game to beat you, don't I?"

"It's good to know that I'm such a good influence on you," Ethan replied back, and Lyra laughed.

"Good battle, kid," said a voice behind him, and Ethan turned around to see the Magmar's trainer holding his hand out. Ethan took the handshake, his smaller hand engulfed by a heavily calloused and muscled hand.

"Haven't been beaten that solidly in a while," said the man, nodding over to his compatriots, who still looked at Ethan sourly. "Anyways, here are your winnings. As promised."

The man handed Ethan a stack of bills, which he took and placed in his backpack. _Hey, I got my money back at least._

"I haven't seen a psychic link used before," the man continued, nodding over to the second trainer Ethan had battled. "Dave over there has been trying for a year with his Kadabra, but they can't ever get it just right."

Ethan blinked. "What? A psychic link?"

The man chuckled. "You're saying you don't know what you were doing? Yeesh, I'm forgetting you're only like, what, eleven? Psychic pokemon can link their minds with their trainers so you can communicate without even saying a word. It's hard to do, especially during battle when you've got a lot of action going around and both the trainer and the pokemon are focused on different things."

"Yeah, I didn't even notice it until the battle today," Lyra piped in now. "Your eyes glowed slightly blue when you released Espy."

"It didn't look that solid, true," the man commented. "The eyes tend to glow brighter when the link is stronger. But it's impressive if you've managed it as young as you are."

Ethan shook his head. While he had known about psychic links before, he had never considered that simply talking to his friend mind-to-mind during battle was evidence of a burgeoning psychic link.

_Nor did I. _Espy's eyes had faded to their usual color, not highlighted by the use of her psychic powers anymore.

"Anyways, good match," said the man, nodding before he left to go back to his friends.

Lyra clapped Ethan on the shoulder, startling him from his thoughts. "Did you ever pay attention in class, Ethan?" said his friend, rolling her eyes. "Come on, I do actually want to battle today. I'm tired of watching you get all the action."

"I'll watch a few battles," said Ethan, nodding. "But I'll have to get back to the Pokemon Center soon to get Agni and Tricky looked at, especially Tricky. He took a lot of damage back there."

Lyra sighed. "Fine, just go leave me alone then. Again." But her smile betrayed her words.

Ethan grinned.

…

"Tricky, cut it out."

Dancer's shadow rippled and materialized into the Haunter's form as the fairy turned around and squeaked at the appearance of the ghost. Tricky stretched its mouth with its hands and stuck its tongue out at the fairy, who squeaked back indignantly. Suddenly, Agni jumped through the ghost and dissipated half of ghost's form before landing next to Dancer. The remaining half of Tricky, half of its mouth and one eye to be exact, glared at the dog as Tricky quickly reformed the rest of its body.

Before the ghost could do anything else, Ethan intervened. "You definitely deserved that, Tricky," he said, laughing a little. "Just leave them alone."

Tricky frowned and levitated over to Ethan, allowing Dancer and Agni to continue playing in the corner, which more or less consisted of Dancer jumping high into the air, held aloft by the energy stored in her wings, and Agni attempting to jump just as high and failing miserably.

Espy watched the scene unfold from her position next to his bed, where Ethan was currently resting. He stretched his arms. It really had been a long day.

Tricky had made it out of the earlier battle with few injuries. Ghosts naturally reformed and healed themselves over time using the extra-dimensional energies that fueled their entire being, so it had been a simple process of allowing Tricky time to heal. Agni had taken a beating from Drowzee but had only merited the use of a couple of Potions and some time to rest. Pokemon were tough.

In the corner of his eye, Ethan noticed Tricky slipping into the shadows of the room, where its dark form slowly crept towards Espy. He was about to reprimand the ghost again when Espy's eyes flashed and a bright flash of light suddenly sparked in the corner of the room, partially blinding Ethan but completely blinding Tricky as the ghost recoiled from the Flash, floating about the room, disoriented. Ethan couldn't help but chuckle at Tricky's failed prank, and a pulse of amusement echoed in his mind.

Agni had whuffed at the scene and trotted over to Espy, who looked at the dog impassively. The fire type looked like it was considering getting close to the psychic and licking her face as he had did with Ethan, but Espy's eyes began to glow again and Agni reconsidered, instead hopping onto Ethan's bed and nestling against his body. Ethan patted the dog on the head and ruffled its fur, eliciting a content rumble from the fire type.

Ethan looked around. Aside from Dancer, who stood at the window looking at the moon lit sky, likely absorbing the ambient energy to be stored in her wings, the rest of his pokemon seemed to be winding down. Tricky had retreated into the corner of the room, its body seamlessly melting into the shadows. Espy was resting against her large tail and had closed her eyes, the psychic presence in Ethan's mind minimal as he registered her slipping into unconsciousness.

Ethan looked at his team. His friends. Things that he wouldn't trade for anything in the world. Ethan took a deep breath and exhaled, letting the day's events slide off his mind with the motion. Shut off the lights, and went to sleep.

….

**And****…****FIN. At least, for this chapter. What****'****d you guys think this time? Leave your comments, reviews, and thoughts with me in the review section, and I****'****ll take time to look at them for consideration.**


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